The Story of Us
by katherineismikaelson
Summary: Courtney Gilbert has always been in her twin's shadow, always been second best compared to Elena. When she finally learns the truth about vampires in Mystic Falls, she's mad and ditches. She finds herself in a hotel room with a very sexy British lad who helps her as a vampire and is out to sacrifice her sister. Will she help her sister or stick by her true love's side? K/OC/S
1. Prologue

Prologue

"Mommy!" 4 year old Kylie yells to me as we sit down to go to sleep. Her twin, Kaylie, comes over to the bed to sit with us. "Story time!" Kaylie agrees with Kylie by nodding her head violently and jumps on the bed.

My husband appears at the door to see my smiling at the girls and laughing with them. "What is this?" His British accent only rubbed off on Kaylie.

"Story time, daddy," Kaylie answered with a toothy grin. He pushes off from his leaning position on the door to come over and sit next to me, leaning at the girls' feet.

"I guess we'll be having to make up a story," he guesses looking at me with a hopeful expression.

"Or, we could tell them the story of us?" I suggest.

"Yes, I've never heard that one."

Kylie agrees, "Neither have I."

"Well, Mr. Mikaelson, what do you think?"

"I think we need to start from the beginning," he tells me.

"Then the beginning we shall start," I reply. "Before I start, you need to know not to repeat the words that might slip out." The both nodded, but I know they'll catch on eventually. "So, it started with a dream I had the day after we found out that Katerina Petrova wasn't in the tomb. Damon Salvatore, vampire, was devastated, so was Bonnie Bennett, witch, because her Grams had just died. I think Stefan Salvatore, another vampire, was kind of sad too. He thought he was going to see his love once more, even though he was dating my sister, Elena Gilbert."

_I was running through a forest with a dress falling down to my feet. It was almost like I was running away from something, or maybe someone. I could tell I was terrified from whatever it was. The dress was beautiful. It had a silky white top and a satin black skirt that ran down to my ankles in the back, yet was cut out at my knees in the front. I had lost my shoes a long time ago and one of my earrings was missing from my ear. The necklace that my friend Stefan gave me was MIA from my neck and that was a reminder that I was a bad friend. I didn't remember how I got to running in the forest or why, but there was no stopping my legs. It was like my body had taken over without any of my consent._

_"Courtney! Babe, come here so I can suck your blood," A patronizing voice yelled from behind me. I was scared shitless and I had no idea where the hell I was going. I just knew I had to get away from him. Especially when he's yelling about sucking my blood._

_Sadly, I tripped on nothing (clumsy me) and fell to my doom. I was going to get caught and after I got caught, I had no idea what was going to happen. I tried to get up to run again, but apparently, my ankle decided it would land the wrong way and I was on the forest floor with tears streaming down my face and a fucked up ankle. I tried not to make much sound, but that was a miserable fail. I didn't cry loudly, but my moving to hide behind a tree was setting off all the signs that I was there._

_"Darling, I thought I told you to run?" I whimpered at the voice with his teasing voice. "I guess you'll just have to pay the consequences."_

_Before I could yell out to the voice to stop, there was a figure above me. I let out a squeal, but no scream to indicate I was here with the mysterious man. His hands fled down to pull me up by my elbows. It was dark, but the moonlight was bright enough for me to see his basic features. He had a very attractive face, thin lips, perfectly sculpted cheeks and the most beautiful feature about him; his piercing blue eyes._

_"Damon…" The name slipped from my lips before I could even register who the man was in my head. "Please don't do this."_

_"Oh, honey, but I have to. I have to teach you a lesson." His smirk grew. "A lesson of when I tell you to run," he paused to lean closer to my face and whispered, "you run."_

_His head when from my face, strait down to my neck and he inhales my scent._

_"Damon, you really need to think this through. Elena will hate you and she'll be all like 'Damon, you ass, that's my sister.'"_

_"Mmm, maybe, probably, but I don't care. You smell delicious," he mumbled against my skin. He continued to kiss my neck like he wasn't about to pierce it with his little vampire fangs. "This might hurt."_

_Suddenly, I felt it. It was like getting a shot, but with two needles that never come out. I didn't make a sound because I was too scared he'd press down harder to make me shut up. Damon didn't even make an attempt to keep in his moan as he sucked from my neck. The longer he was drinking the tighter the grip was on my waist and the more lightheaded I felt. Finally, before I passed out from loss of blood, Damon pulled back and looked at me, not even caring my blood was on his lips, dripping down his chin. To be honest, it was like looking at a little vampire piggy._

_"Had fun there?" I asked sarcastically. Damon didn't get the sarcasm and just nodded. He bent down to go back for more, but I kneed him where the sun don't shine and pushed him away. This time he moaned from pain._

_"That wasn't a good idea," he groaned. "Stay." Damon looked up from the ground and I saw his scary face. I tried to move from my spot, but I couldn't. It was like my feet were literally glued to the ground. Shit. "Now, I'm going to finish dinner and you're not going to make a sound. That means no sarcastic comments or any of your bitchy attitude._

_I opened my mouth to say something, nothing came out but a breath._

_He lunged._

I woke up in my bed, sweating my like a donkey.

"Courtney, you have to get up." Elena walked into my room putting on a jacket but stopped when she saw me panting and sweating. "Are you okay? What happened?" Elena interrogated as she rushed over to my bed and sat on it.

"I'm fine," I replied, waving her off. "It was just another nightmare. It's nothing. Same 'ole, same 'ole."

Elena continued to give me a worried look so I smiled a big toothy smile with my eyes closed and my head tilted up. I knew when she laughed that I was in the clear. I kept having dreams of me dying and being drained of blood. It was pretty normal I guess, but the thing that always got me was the person who drained me. Or I should say _people_. It always had to be either Stefan or Damon Salvatore. Stefan was Elena's boyfriend and his brother was Damon. They weren't vampires; I knew that for a fact. I would have found out if they were anyway because Damon and I were pretty close and Stefan was Elena's boyfriend; that's more than enough. Even if he was, Elena would have found out and told me. She would have broken up with him too. She hated Twilight, therefore she would have hated vampire human relationships.

"Okay, and Jenna has done some digging on our mom," She informed me. "If you want to hear it, you better get up." Elena smirked and raced out of my room as I was getting up. Elena and I found out that we weren't actually in the Gilbert family. Our aunt finally revealed it when Elena confronted her out of nowhere. I had no idea where she had got the idea from, but she was apparently right. My little brother, Jeremy wasn't my little bro, that was what I was most concerned about. It didn't matter that my parents weren't my parents, they were still my parents. They were there when she wasn't. All I know of who she was was her name. Isobel.

I found Elena and Jenna both downstairs in the kitchen looking at a laptop screen. I hurried behind Elena to look at the screen. All I saw on the screen was the desktop background. I didn't say anything but I was hoping this would hurry up. Sure, I slept in but the nightmare didn't help me sleep at all. It was like I was still awake and I was just seeing something. I still felt tired like the night before.

"Looks like Sleeping Beauty finally woke up to reality," Jenna commented when she saw me. I gave her a sarcastic smile, but still said nothing, just waiting for the news of my mom. Sure, she gave us away to a family she had no idea about, but still, she was my mother and I wanted to know about her. I wanted to meet her even if she totally shunned me my whole life. "Your dad kept everything from his medical practice, records, logs, old appointment books." Jenna pulls out a dusty, old-looking spiral book. "I found an entry from the night you were both born. Patient and a birthday." Both Elena and I closed in closer to look at the book. On the page, there was scribbles of words and the only one I could make out is the slight name of Isobel Peterson. _Dad always did have the worst handwriting that only he could make out._

"Do you think that's her real name?" Elena questioned, a little hesitant.

Jenna answers, "For a teenage runaway? Probably not. First name, maybe. But where'd she get Peterson? Classmate? Best friend? So, I Binged it." Jenna pulled up the Bing page and typed in 'Peterson' 'Grove Hill, Virginia' "I searched for all the Petersons in this area born the same year as Isobel, found three- two men and a woman, Trudie." Jenna gave me a knowing look and returned her eyes to the screen. "Who lived in Grove Hill, Virginia."

"That's not far from here," I said, thinking of all the towns close to Mystic Falls.

"Well, watch this." Jenna cleared the previous search to look up 'Trudie Peterson' 'Grove Hill High School' and picture of two cheerleaders came up. I didn't know what Isobel looked like, so I was confused. _Which one is our mother? _

"Isobel," Elena stated. "She was a cheerleader." Of course, a cheerleader like Elena.

"Which one is she?" I asked confused as Aunt Jenna and Elena shared a look. Elena sent me a silly face and pointed to the one who wasn't smiling. She was actually very pretty.

"Trudie still lives there." Jenna picked up an address written on a stick note and handed it to Elena. "This is her address."

I rushed over to Elena side to see the address, but she let her arm fall to her side before I got to see it. Silently, I crossed my arms and huffed. I'm always out of the picture. Elena always thinks she can do something and is the boss because she came out seven minutes earlier than I did. It almost seemed as though people treated us different because of that.

"What about Isobel?" I questioned.

Jenna answered, "I couldn't find anything about her." I looked up out of disappointment and sat down next to Jenna and Elena next to me. "Listen." Both our heads snapped in Jenna direction at the same time. "There's something else. Mr. Saltzman, Ric, his wife was from around here and her name was also Isobel."

"Wait, 'was,' as in…"

"She died."

"Okay." I jumped up from my chair and started to walk up the stairs. "I've had enough digging for today. I'll be in my room calling Matty and Bonnie. You guys and have a confession session and talk about how sad it is that our mother is dead. I'm going to focus on the living people in my life."

"We don't know if it's even her, Court. And how can you say that? She's our mom?"

"She left us," I snapped. It was like when I heard that she might have been dead, something snapped. Like I was angry at someone or something.

"Yeah, but…" Elena stuttered.

"But nothing," I cut her off. "She left us with the Gilbert family and she let us have other parents. I love my mother and father. If she really cared, she would have stayed with us and took care of us. But no, she decided to dump two babies on someone else's doorstep and ditch so she could go back to her perfect twin-free life. Well, Elena, if you want to find our mother, be my guest, but keep me out of it."

Elena looked devastated I would say that. She looked confused and sad. But she agreed anyway.

"Cheers! Now, excuse me." I continued my way up the stairs to my room. When I was a few feet from it, I suddenly sprinted to the door and closed it behind me. I was sliding down the door and crying at the same time. She had us, left us and then decided to get herself killed before we even met her. It was like she never even wanted to meet us. Meet me.

I cleaned myself up and walked over to my bed to my phone. I dialed a number that I haven't in a while. Sadly, all I got was voicemail.

"Hey, Matty. Listen, I know you're probably with Caroline or your mom, but I really need to talk right now and you're the only one that came up on my mind." Tears started to cascade down my cheeks. "So if you could call me back, that'd be amazing and you'd be my hero. So, bye." I hung up slowly and decided to call Bonnie.

"Hey Bon-Bon, I know you're with your aunt right now and bonding with family, but I really needed someone to talk to. I'm sorry about your Grams and I want you to come home girl. You need me and I need you. Love you, bye," I said into the phone. It seemed like no one was there for me.

After sitting in silence and listening to voices in Elena's room, I decided to actually eavesdrop on them. I had nothing else to do really, so why not?

"Stefan, I don't know. But anyway, onto another topic," I heard Elena say. "Courtney. She's been in the dark for forever now and I'm thinking we should tell her. You've compelled her so many times and I don't know if it's good for her. I think she deserves to know, but at the same time I want to protect her."

_The fuck is she talking 'bout?_

"Elena, whatever makes you happy. Personally, I think she shouldn't know just yet. No one has fed on her and no one will. When the time comes, we can tell her about…that," Stefan replied back. I could practically hear Elena smile before I heard kissing noises.

_Time to stop. Nasty._

"What the hell is she talking about?" I whispered to myself. Then a funny thought came to my head. "What if she's keeping the secret that vampires are real? How coincidental would that be?"

I shook my head at the thought and continued over to my notebook. Elena liked to write about her life in her diary, but I liked to write songs. It was cheesy and I knew it. I loved to write them and sing them even though I couldn't sing for shit. I never shared them with anyone but Caroline and Vicki. Caroline was kind of a judge-y person, but I loved her all the same. She would always listen to what I had to say and was always honest with me. I could tell when she was lying when she said some of my songs were good and we'd sing together. Vicki would be strait forward with me. She'd be my very own critic and she'd tell me the good parts and the horrible parts.  
>She even told me my songs were either a hit or something she found in her shower drain. But, now, she was gone. She just left town without telling anyone. Even me. I missed that girl like I would miss an eye. She and Caroline and Bonnie were my absolute best friends, even though they all didn't really get along.<p>

Elena knocked on my door after her conversation with Stefan. "I'm going out, wanna come?" I shook my head and just pointed to my book. "Okay, happy writing!" She closed the door and left me only to my book and my thoughts.

I heard the door close twice in thirty minutes, indicating that Elena, Stefan and Jenna were all gone. I smiled at the thought and pulled out my guitar and amp. Turning it up to the loudest, I started rocking.

"You know that I'm a crazy bitch! I do what I want when I feel like it. All I wanna do is loose control." The lyrics poured out of my mouth without any thought. That was how well I knew the song. I always would sing it when I was alone. "But you don't really give a shit, you go with, go with, go with it. 'Cause you're fucking crazy, rock 'n' roll. You said 'Hey, what's your name?' It took one look, now I'm not the same. You said 'Hey.' And since that day, you stole my heart and you're the one to blame. And that's why I smile. It's been a while since everyday and everything has felt this right. And now, you turn it all around. And suddenly you're all I need.

"The reason why I smile."


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

"Excuse me, you went without me?" I screamed at Elena. She looked flustered and scared that she did something wrong. She did! She went to see the person, Trudie…whatever without me. She went to search for someone that could be connected to our mother without me and she didn't even call when she was there.

"You said you didn't want to search with me," Elena offered still looking remorseful.

"You should have known I was lying!" I screamed again at her. I turned away from her because I couldn't stand to see her face. "Of course I want to meet my mom. She's not just your birth mother Elena, she's mine too and you know me better than anyone. I was just so…mad to find out that she might be dead, and I couldn't handle it. I couldn't handle the thought of her being gone…forever and I didn't even meet her. She's gone forever like mom." A tear ran down my cheek and before I could wipe it away, Elena was there to do it for me. I didn't even know how she got there. I was just so wrapped up in my own little world, I didn't even make an attempt to see what Elena was feeling while I was ranting. "You could have at least asked me about it."

"I know, Court and I'm sorry."

"'Lena," I started looking up into her eyes that were identical to mine. "What was she like? Did she know where our mom was?"

Elena broke eye contact by looking at the floor. "She…she…um…" Elena stuttered. "She doesn't know where Isobel is. She hasn't seen her in seventeen years. They kept contact, but they stopped after a while." My heart broke and obviously, Elena could see that. "But," I perked up. "I did find out that she was in Florida for a while and she went to Duke. She could still be there."

"Jenna told me that Ric's wife who is named Isobel and who was killed went to Duke too," I mumbled sadly. "So, the chances of our mother being Ric's Isobel are really high. That means the chances of Isobel being dead are really high too. I don't want this." I felt myself falling down, yet I didn't hit the floor. Elena caught me before I could hurt myself.

"Courtney, I don't want this either. I wish it could be different, but we have to deal with what he have right now. Court, let's promise we'll stick together in this. We should promise that no matter what, we won't ever look for our mother alone. Agreed?" Elena asked. I nodded my head and held out my pinky. Elena stared at it like it was foreign.

"What?" I asked with a smile on my face.

"Are we four years old?"

"One of us is and the other betrayed her twin to go find their mother alone. Anyway, nothing is more promising than a pinky promise. Now do it before I have to force pinky promise you," I demanded. Elena let out a laugh, but still wrapped her pink around mine. We sat there with smiles on our faces for a little before I piped up. "We should go to the Grill. I'm feeling hungry."

"Yeah, I agree with you there, twin. Leggo!"

"Elena Gilbert, the boring twin, using slang?" I said sarcastically with a British accent causing Lena to scoff. "Did Harry Potter perform the wrong spell? Am I in a different dimension?"

"It wasn't Harry. It was Ronald Weasley,"Elena corrected with a poorly executed accent.

"Of course, I expected that from him."

"Don't we all."

"Stefan, can I talk to you alone?" Elena pulled Stefan away from me when we first walked in the Grill. I should have expected it. She probably texted him on the way there. I'm always the twin that is kept out of the loop and later have to find out from Jeremy or Bonnie what the hell is going on. I had to find out the night Stefan came over that they were having a dinner. I'm always the second to know all this shit.

Slowly, I walked away from them with a scowl on my face and spotted Damon sitting at the bar. My scowl changed into a smug smile as I walked over to my friend.

"Hey, buddy," I greeted bumping his shoulder. Damon mumbled 'Oh god,' under his breath and finished his drink before turning to me. "Excuse me, I'm great company. For you, I can't say the same."

"Then why are you over here?"

"I pity you."

"Sure, and that's why you called me buddy," Damon scoffed ordering another drink.

"I'm a good person. I befriend the ugly people. People who will never get friends," I told him sadly. "Now, Ugly, won't you buy me a drink? Huh? Not only can we be friends, we can be drinking buddies."

Damon smirked at me. "You are good. And just for that, I'm going to buy you a drink anyway. Waiter, or whatever you want to call yourself, bartender, get the pretty lady a drink I have."

Jared, the bartender, walked over with a scowl on his face. "Sorry, oldie, but I'm not a 'waiter or whatever,' I'm a bartender and you can call me that and respect it." Jared turned to me with a pitiful smile. "Neenee, you know I can't serve you. Little minor. The boss is already on my ass for flirting with the customers and not doing my job. He'll have my head if he knew I was serving you."

I put on my flirty smile even though I knew he would never go for me. I whispered, "But Jared, we can keep this I secret. I won't tell a soul."

"Sorry, babe, no can do."

"Okay, look at it this way," I said giving up the flirty act. "You serve him," I pointed at Damon. "He's way of age and I just happen to drink it. Right?" Jared gave me a frown, looked around and then took out another glass.

"You really better not tell anyone," he warned as he poured the alcohol in the glass. I put my pointer finger to my lips. "Not a soul." Jared fled the scene when he finished pouring it and slid it to Damon, who, with a smirk, slid it to me.

"What am I drinking by the way?" I asked as we clinked our glasses together.

"If you taste it, you'll know," Damon simply replied. I squinted my eyes at him but still put the glass to my mouth to drink. But before I could get anything down my throat, Elena called me over to her and Stefan. I groan erupted from my mouth as I slammed the drink down. "Ha! More for me." Damon didn't even wait for me to take my hands of it to dive right in and snatch it from me.

"Whatever," I mumbled. I left the stool next to Damon to find myself next to Elena and Stefan outside the Grill. Elena looked like she forced a smile, but before she could even get anything out, a man came up to us.

"Stop looking for her," he stated firmly. I raised a brow at him and was about to set my mouth off at him, but he continued talking. "She doesn't want to be found. Stop."

The man then backed into traffic and hit by a truck. My hand suddenly flew up to my mouth and I let a tear slip out. I heard Elena whimper and turn into Stefan's arms. _What the hell was that? Who was he to tell us to stop looking for her? Was that from Isobel directly? Did she send him? Is she really dead?_

I didn't stick around for Elena's comments about the man. I just turned from the scene and started to walk to Matt's house. His house wasn't far from the Grill and was an easy walk. I didn't stop to think what he would say when I just showed up at his house unaccounted for. But I needed someone to talk to. I know I can always talk to Matt because he'd always listen and never interrupt me. He'd would give me advice for my problems and laugh at my jokes and play along on any kind of bullshit I have to say or do. It was kind of a love hate relationship, though. Matt would disagree with me on my opinions and we'd debate, yet he was still the best person to talk to. Of course I wouldn't just tell _him _all my secrets; some girl things needed to stay girl things.

When I saw his house up ahead, I started sprinting. The tears where rushing down my face like a waterfall and the wind in my eyes wasn't making anything better. Finally, when I reached the door, instead of knocking, I just opened it. I walked into the kitchen to find Matt and Kelly Donavan, his mom, talking.

"Courtney," Matt instantly stood up when he saw my face. "What happened?"

"Hey, Kelly," I greeted first with a forced smile. She just looked at me sadly and stood up to wipe away my tears.

"What's wrong, honey?"

"I…Elena and I found our biological mom," I stated, still with the forced smile. Matt smiled at me sadly and motioned for me to sit down.

"So, this morning, Jenna did some digging and she showed us. Turns out that Isobel used a fake name when she was preggers with us, so we went to visit her friend, who she stole the name from," I explained, tears still falling down. "Well, Elena went to find her without me," I mumbled. "And Jenna also discovered that Mr. Saltzman's wife was also named Isobel, she went to Duke and she died. Elena found out from the friend that our Isobel went to Duke too. So the chances of her actually being alive aren't that high. We think that Ric's Isobel is our Isobel."

"Court, I'm so sorry," Matt apologized and hugged me. Kelly put her hand on my thigh and squeezed it reassuringly.

"Wait, I'm not done." I wiped away some tears. _Stop crying, Courtney. _"Then a man came up to us today and demanded that we stopped looking for her." Matt's face instantly contorted to confusion and so did Kelly's. "After that," I whispered, "he stepped in traffic and killed himself.

"Court," Kelly said breathless. "That is…horrible. I'd never wish that pain on my worst enemy. Are you okay?"

"Well, I came in here crying, so what do you think?" I snapped. Kelly's face saddened, causing mine to do so too. A rush of guilt washed over me. _Really, Court? She's just trying to help you and you gotta go and yell at her. _"Kel, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you, I'm just feeling really emotional today."

"I have an idea. Why don't we just cuddle up on our excuse of a couch and just watch movies until we pass out," Matt suggested with a grin. A genuine smile. "How does that sound?"

"What will we be watching?"

"Disney."

"Then hell yes," I agreed jumping up from the chair. "Okay, Matt, movies. Kelly, blankets," I instructed firmly. Matt and Kelly nodded to play along. "I'll make popcorn. Alright team, move out."

"Sir, yes, sir!" Kelly yelled out while Matty yelled at the same time, "Ma'am, yes, ma'am." I rolled my eyes at Kelly and she stuck out her tongue at me playfully.

I walked over to the small pantry they had and pulled out a bag of popcorn. I knew this house like I knew my own. Matt, Elena and I had all known each other forever and we'd been at each other's houses too many times to count. Then Elena and Matt started dating and that just brought them closer. Me, being Elena's twin, got a free invite to tag along on their dates at Matt's house, which meant free food.

When the popcorn was finally done, I poured it all into a purple bowl under the sink that had white letter written across it, '_Popcorn.' _It reminded me of the first time Matt and I went to the movies together. It wasn't like a date kind of thing, our relationship is strictly friends, so we went to see an action movie. It was funny because we were the only ones in the theater so we got to run around the seats and play hide and seek and managed to watch the movie at the same time. _I _spilled most of the popcorn, causing the workers to frown upon my actions. Yeah, I'm not allowed back in that theater for a while. Sadly, it's the only theater in town.

"Okay, did everyone get what they needed?" I yelled when I found Kelly on the couch and Matt hovering over the TV. When they both saw me, they stood up straight and put their right hands to their foreheads.

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am," Matt and Kelly screamed in unison.

"Beauty and the Beast, Finding Nemo, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Aladdin," Matt listed off.

"You got all princess movies?" I smiled breaking the sergeant act.

Matt just smiled bashfully and shrugged. "What can I say, I love to sing along."

"Did you get the blankets, private?" I screamed again after having a laugh with Matt.

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"What was that?"

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"I can't HEAR YOU, PRIVATE!"

"SIR, YES, FUCKING SIR!"

"DID YOU JUST CUSS AT ME PRIVATE?"

"SIR, YES, SIR!"

"WELL, GOOD FOR YOU SON!" Kelly just nodded her head and looked like she was looking past me like in the actual army. "Well, then," I said in a normal voice, which caused Kelly to break out of her trance, "let's get started, shall we?"

Matt slid the disc in the slot and hopped on the couch next to me. I was in between the two Donovans. We sit like that for a while watching the movies. Matt started singing along to Beauty and the Beast at the ballroom scene really badly. Kelly joined in with him, so I eventually sang along with them too.

It was all the way up to Finding Nemo when Elena called me.

"Elena, what do you need?" I snapped into the phone before she could even say hello.

"Where are you?" she asked worriedly. "You just ran off before and I thought I would give you some time alone, but now, I'm kind of worried. You've been gone forever and Kelly missed the auction. Are you with Matt and Kelly?"

"Actually, Elena, I am. So, if you'll just excuse me, I have some Finding Nemo to get back to," I said before I hung up the phone.

"Worried twin?" Kelly guessed not even looking at me.

"Yup, they always worry."

"True that."

your document here...


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

I woke up next to nobody, but a beer bottle. I guess we had some fun. I remembered falling asleep during the first half of Cinderella and hearing things around me, but I was too lazy to open my eyes and check what those things were. It was almost sad that I was alone, _again, _at the Donavan household, but at the same time it wasn't. I figured they had somewhere to go in the morning, yet I thought they would wake me up to kick me out. That just proved that Matt and Kelly were caring people.

I did remember sounds though last night. They were like…moaning sounds. Like someone was…doing the dirty. Then again, I did hear there was an auction a Kelly probably went to that to get some. Not that Kelly was a whore, it's just that she was a little…active.

My dream was the weirdest dream, too. I wasn't even in it. It was Elena who was. And Jenna too with two other ladies I've never even seen before and a man. He was an attractive man with blue eyes, blonde hair and a tall, muscular figure. I would have liked him very much if we didn't 'meet' the way we did.

_There were three sacrifices. A medium-sized brown haired girl, her blonde aunt and a woman neither of them really liked. Elena didn't like to see her Aunt Jenna in a circle of fire panicking because she was in transition. Transition to become a vampire. Only, Aunt Jenna didn't know this, she only knew she could hear, and see better. She was feeling emotional, like her sister when she was pregnant. Everything thing was brighter to her. It was like everything was better in a special way._

_ And Elena hated that._

_ Elena did her best to keep everyone she loved in the dark so they wouldn't have to get hurt. So they wouldn't have to be dragged into her mess of a life. Elena didn't want her sister, brother, though he was already in this, or her aunt to get hurt in anyway because of her. Elena was sure if she didn't tell them about the Supernatural world, then they'd be protected._

_ Niklaus had gotten what he wanted. He had the doppelganger in his hands, with the witch, vampire and the werewolf all on the full moon. What he had been waiting and searching for had finally come to him. Sure, he didn't have his sister or brother by his side supporting him, but he had something better. The night to be an Original Hybrid. Although he wanted to spend that night with his family, he was happy nonetheless._

_ The witch was performing the spell already and everything was going perfectly. Klaus killed the werewolf first. Then to the vampire, Jenna. Then to Elena. He was ready to become a hybrid and ready to take back what his mother took from him. His dignity, is power and his…happiness. Being a werewolf was who his real father was and he wanted to know that. Mikael had killed Ester's lover before Klaus could even meet him and Ester never released a name._

_ Just like that, Elena was gone._

And I woke up. It was that simple.

I had a dream of my twin dying. But don't fret Courtney, it was just a dream. Magical stuff like predicting the future in your dreams doesn't exist and is too fucking cliché. I'm fine, my sister is going to stay alive and I'm going to have the person who stuck with me through birth by my side.

I could hear two people talking though. Like I wasn't totally alone. I stopped moving around on the couch and started to listen in on the conversation.

"I wish you didn't bring the party home. I bet Courtney would appreciate it too. I heard her talking in her sleep. I wasn't sure what she was saying, but it was probably something about 'shutting up.' That sounds about right."

"Matt, it was one person. Hardly a party."

"I talked to Roberta at the Grill," Matt, I was guessing, said to Kelly. "And there's still a bartending position open if you wanted to, uh, get a job?"

"Well, I figured she'd still be pissed from the last time I worked there," Kelly replied, sounding irritated. She probably had a headache from the hangover. It was a pretty busy night, I assumed. When Kelly got all in it, she got all in it. There was no stopping her when she had a beer in hand and a date on her arm. She was all go.

"I think she's desperate."

"I'll check it out."

"Yeah?"

"Don't act all surprised," Kelly chuckled.

"Well, I mean, I just, didn't know how long you planned on sticking around."

"Well," Kelly breathed. "There's back rent due."

"There's back everything, mom," Matt snapped.

Kelly still remained calm. "Like I said, Matt, I'll check it out." Right after she reassures Matty, there's a knock on the door. "Who's that?"

"That's Caroline," Matt answered. I jumped up at the name of Caroline and started to fold up the blankets and put away the cups. I wasn't sure if I wanted Caroline to get the wrong idea of Matt and me. If Kelly did go to the bachelor auction, Caroline might have seen her, get the idea that Matty and I were here all alone all night and we did something. Maybe I could sneak out the backdoor? But their backyard is shit and I couldn't get out even if I tried _really _hard. Hopefully Caroline wouldn't go _Caroline_ on me and assume the worst.

"Yeah, come in!"

"Crap," I muttered to myself. It was now or never. I grabbed my shoes and snuck to the bathroom. I check my appearance to make sure I didn't have messy sex hair because I am known to mess it up like that when I'm sleeping. I wash my face to get all the ruined, dry mascara off. After taking my time, I was good. Slowly, I walked out to the kitchen to see Caroline, Matt and Kelly all having a tense conversation.

"Hey, guys," I said to them as I walked in the kitchen. Caroline's head snapped towards me before anyone else's. Kelly winked at me while Matt gave me a supportive smile and Caroline just looked confused.

"Look who finally woke up?"

"So, are we already going to school now?" I asked avoiding Caroline's eyes. She tried to send me looks like we were going to talk about it later, but I ignored them and continued looking at Matt.

"Yeah," he answered simply.

"Alrighty, let's go!"

We all slowly made our way to the car Caroline was driving us in. "Care, could you drop me off at my house? I want to change my clothes."

"Sure, whatever floats your boat," Caroline replied back to me. I could tell she was angry that I was with Matt all night. I just hoped that Matt will explain to her that I fell asleep like a little bitch before we even made it to the fourth movie. Caroline was my best friend and she could overreact sometimes, but I loved her no matter what. She was the person that kept me insane and sane all at the same time. And if Caroline hated me because of some misunderstanding, then I'd be screwed. I already lost Vicki, I was on the outs with my sister, my brother wasn't exactly my brother so that put a damper on things and Bonnie was MIA because of her grandmother. And Damon was gone most of the time so when we did get to talk, it was only for a little while before Elena scolded me for talking to him.

"I'll just walk to school," I told her as I got out of the car when she pulled up. Caroline just nodded and drove away as soon as I closed the car door. At least I got out of the tension zone.

When I got up to the door, I could tell no one was home, so I was going to be late. To be honest, it didn't even matter. I had more pressing matters on my mind. I wasn't related to my family that I lived with my whole life. That's just a bit bigger than the pop quiz we're having in history.

I changed out of my clothes and jumped in the shower. When I got out, I picked up a beige, cropped sweater with blue skinny jeans and some black UGGS. I added a paper airplane ring to my right hand, middle finger and a feather necklace. I checked the time to see I missed first period. Maybe I could make it for the middle of second?

I grabbed my phone and backpack and was on my way to the hell they call school. It was 30 minutes minimum to walk to school. On the way, I just read some old text messages of Vicki and mine's conversations. I couldn't believe she just left without telling anybody. Matt, Jeremy and I all took it the worst. She was Matt's sister, Jeremy's true love and my BEST friend. Even when she turned to drugs, I was always there for her and she was always there for me.

Finally, I found myself at Alaric's history class. I slipped my phone in my pocket, took a deep breath and opened the door. Everyone's heads turned towards me. Alaric stopped writing on the board and turned to me with a lazy smile.

"And what makes you late to my class, Ms. Gilbert?"

As I walked to an open seat, next to Elena, I answered him. "Ric, I had a long night. I was busy singing along to Beauty and the Beast. Then I was trying to find Nemo." Ric tilted his head at me. "And just before I fell asleep, I sang with Cinderella. And while I was asleep, I heard some noises that no teenager should ever hear from their best friend's mother. Not to mention, I had the weirdest dream, so if you could cut me some slack…"

"That really sounds like the worst night," Alaric mocked.

"Hey, I'm kind of feeling a hangover…from popcorn." Some of the class chuckled at my statement, even Matt.

"That sounds horrible, Courtney, but can I continue on with my lesson?"

"If that what makes you happy, go ahead. But just so you know, I probably won't be paying attention," I said.

"Thank you for that warning, Courtney."

"Anything for my history teacher," I winked. Alaric rolled his eyes and continued to talk about whatever. Elena smiled at me and I smiled back. Quickly, after smiling at me, she wrote on a piece of paper and threw it at me.

_Stefan and I are going on a double date with Caroline and Matt. Do you want to come?_

I wrote back on the note, _And be a fifth wheel? Hell, no. I'll just be at home catching up on sleep. You know you can never get too much sleep. _I threw the note back at her, purposely while Ric was watching.

"Really? Passing notes?" Personally, I didn't think Alaric cared that much, but he knew he had to say something.

"I warned you I wouldn't pay attention."

Ric took a deep breath and pretended to be annoyed and suggested, "At least pretend."

I put my hand on my chin. "I'll think about it." Ric frowned but I saw it in his eyes that he was smiling.

Elena threw the note at me when Ric had turned his back.

_Only according to you. When I'm not tired, I can't sleep. Anyway, what are you really going to do?_

_Probably just write some songs and crap. I don't really know. _I write back.

_Well, have fun with that._

_Have fun with your double date. Hopefully that won't turn into a disaster although it probably will. That's another reason why I don't want to be there. The date will turn out to be shit. _Elena smiled at me when she finished reading my words.

I mouthed, "You know it's true." She nodded.

"Ms. Gilbert, would you like to tell me the answer?"

"Ricky, you have to be more specific," I scolded. "There are two of us."

"Fine, Courtney, would you like to tell us the answer?"

"Ric," I said, mocking his tone. "Would you like to tell me the question?" I heard a few chuckles here and there.

"When was Mystic Falls founded?" he repeated. "Now, would you like to answer the question?"

I stood up from my chair, cleared my throat and answered, "No." I sat back down with a smile and put my feet up.

"Really? Do you really not know the answer?"

"I know when _my _town was founded, but you asked me if I wanted to answer the question. I replied 'No.' Good enough, right?"

Alaric shook his head and rubbed his forehead. "You're a pain in my ass."

"But admit it Ric, second period history wouldn't be shit if I wasn't in it. You love me. They love me."

"Eh…"

_Elena decided to leave the apartment and start to look for Damon. He left a little while ago and so did Stefan and the British man, Niklaus. She was tired of waiting for Damon and she wanted to find him. It was obvious they weren't going to get Stefan then so instead she just decided to go back home. They'd find another way to get him because she was not giving up._

_Elena continued to wander down the street she thought was right to get to the bar Damon was talking about. Instead, she found herself at a garage. There were vampires guarding something. She could try to sneak in or she could just walk in there with confidence. Either way, she had to find out._

_Confidence won._

_"What are you doing? The doppelganger?" one of the vampire guards questioned._

_"Yeah, except I'm the cool one," Elena answered. She realized she was going to have to insult herself, but anything to get into the garage. Elena was hoping they wouldn't hear a heartbeat. The heartbeat she knew she had._

_When the vampires didn't answer, Elena said, "The vampire one. I got back in with Klaus and he's told me to come check on his little box. He never said what was inside it. What is it?"_

_"How do I know you're not lying to us?"_

_"I don't care if you believe me or not, but you need to remember, what if I'm telling the truth? What if I'm actually with Klaus and I came here with orders and you refuse me? Do you think you'll still be alive to even run?"_

_The vampires looked at each other and decided not to get their heads ripped off._

_"His sister, Rebekah. The other Original?"_

_"Yes," Elena confirmed blindly, but kept the act up. Elena followed the brown-haired vampire to the box 'Rebekah' was in. When she saw the Original, she felt pity. Rebekah was lying in the coffin with a grey face and veins showing. She noticed, as she was standing over the body, the veins slowly started to disappear, faster. Before she could even react, eyes snapped open. Elena tried not to act surprised but she failed herself._

_"This is the newest addition to the doppelganger family, isn't it?" Rebekah Mikaelson asked. The vampires finally heard the heartbeat of Elena Gilbert beating faster and faster as Rebekah rose from her coffin. Elena stepped back. "Did Nik bring be a snack?"_

_Rebekah stepped out of the coffin and right in front of Elena. It wasn't the right time, but Elena decided to inspect Rebekah's outfit. It was obvious that she was in the coffin for a while judging from the yellowish dress with beads from a while back. Rebekah wasn't even dressed for the end of the past century._

_"Get away f-from m-me," Elena stuttered, slowly backing up._

_"Can I just say, the original was much prettier." The Blonde Original grabbed a handful of the human's hair and latched on to her neck with her fangs. That was the last anyone ever saw of Elena Gilbert._

_I was on my way to the Salvatore boarding house in Matt's truck. We were coming from…wherever and we were rushing. I wasn't sure what was happening, but I knew that I had to pick._

_"Court, we can either turn around and go to Damon or we can stay on the way to Stefan. Your pick," Matt informed me. I wanted to see Stefan badly for some reason, I had to tell him something, but a part of me wanted to see Damon too. I had to pick because something told me we didn't have enough time to see them both. I figured we were closer to Stefan, but I needed to turn around for some reason. Damon needed me in some way I didn't understand at the time._

_We were coming up on Wickery Bridge where my parents died. Yup, it was too close to Stefan. Instead of telling Matt to turn around, I just nodded at him and he kept moving in the same direction. I pulled out my phone and dialed Damon's number._

"Hello?" _Damon answered, sounding out of it._

_"Damon, hey. How you doing?" I asked, a tear rushing down my face. I wasn't sure why I was crying, but I just was._

"I'm doing fine. You going to see Stefan?"

_"Yeah, I just really have to tell him something. Maybe after I tell him, I could come to you. Then we could go do something?" I suggested._

"That's not going to happen, but tell Elena…" _Damon choked up._ "Tell Elena I love her. And that I'll miss her."

_"Damon, don't you dare say that. You'll be fine and everything will be alright. You'll get to tell her yourself."_

"You and I both know that's not going to happen."

_"Shut up. You're my best friend and I refuse to let you die. I want to see you happy with my sister. Alive…undead and happy," I started to cry. I could already hear Damon shaking his head._

"You're my best friend Courtney. Always remember that. No matter what anyone says, remember that," _Damon demanded._ "Nod if you understand that." _I nodded._ "Did you nod?"

_"Yeah, Damon, I nodded."_

"You are my bestest friend and I love you. Goodbye, Courtney Gilbert, never forget me." _Damon hung up and we were at the Salvatore house._

_And I opened my eyes._

I was actually standing in front of the Salvatore house. I started forget the dream when my mind was focused on how I got there. Last I remembered I was sleeping in my bed with Imagine Dragons playing in the background. I wasn't supposed to be there. But the question wasn't how I got in front of Stefan and Damon's house, it was why.

Instead of turning back like a normal person would do, I instead felt compelled to walk into their house, uninvited, and walk right up into Stefan's room. I didn't even take the time to admire the work and effort put into the house. I just walked into Stefan's room and fell onto his bed. Without a second thought, I closed my eyes and fell asleep again.

My eyes opened when I heard the window smash. Then followed by the smashing window were groans and shouts. That wasn't normal. My head floated back to the thoughts of waking up in front of the house and walking to Stefan's room just to fall asleep again on his bed.

I slowly rose up from my position. The grunting and shouting continued as I opened the door and walked down the hall. I wasn't sure what I was in for and Stefan and Damon were okay. It was obvious someone broke in, but I wasn't sure if my two favorite Salvatores were going to live. When did they come home anyway? I didn't hear anything and when they did come home, why didn't Stefan come to his room?

I walked down the stairs to find no one, but I followed the sounds to the library where Stefan and Damon were fighting a man and a woman. It was weird actually, one minute they were at one place, they next they were at another part of the library. All in all, they were all fast. It was hard to keep up with the fight when they were throwing each other across the room and then zooming there to just fight again. I didn't know the woman had it in her to throw Stefan, but she did. And surprisingly, Stefan recovered quick.

Damon was still trying to strangle the man at the same time he was trying to strangle Damon. They both just stood there trying their hardest not to give up first while Stefan held the woman while she hunched over. I didn't realize Stefan was stabbing the brunette until she fell to the floor with wooden stick poking out of her chest. _What the hell? _ Damon headbutted the man and threw him towards the fireplace. The man didn't quite make it to the fire, but he was close. He got up before my eyes could catch it and was out of the house.

Damon and Stefan didn't even seem fazed by his amazing speed. It was like they expected. The brunette was grey and vein-y from where I could see. Her veins were literally showing. It wasn't natural.

"Dammit," Damon muttered.

"Yeah," Stefan replied. I realized why Stefan kept his hand on his stomach. He had been stabbed. "I remember them…from 1864."

_What the fuck? The fuck is he talking about? Stefan doesn't look a day over 20. How the hell would he be at least 140 years old? Unless he wasn't aging for some reason, _I thought to myself.

"They were in the tomb," Stefan continued.

"Yeah, about that…"

"What in the hell happened?" I screamed after Damon didn't start talking. Both Stefan and Damon froze and slowly turned their heads in my direction. I started to walk to Stefan. "Did you just see that? Did you just fucking see that? You guys got jumped by these two not human people and you aren't even scared? I'd be shitting my pants. Hell, I think I'm shitting my shorts." Stefan and Damon said nothing, and just looked at each other. "And Stefan, you had to have gotten stabbed."

I jumped over the woman's dead body and tried to open Stefan's shirt. Sure, he was my sister's boyfriend, but he was my friend and I swear on my parents' graves he just got stabbed during that.

"No, stop. It's okay," Stefan pleaded trying to stop me. Damon tried to stop me too from opening his shirt. Eventually, I gave up. It was pretty obvious that I wasn't going to win against two brothers. Then I decided to trick them.

Both of them stared at me while I stared right back at them. Finally, Stefan pulled away his hands from his wound and it was the time to attack…not literally. My hands rushed forwards and pulled open the bloody shirt. But all I got was nothing.

"Fuck…"

"Where is it?" I questioned, more to myself then them. I looked at the wound. I even started to feel it, but it was solid. "Where the fuck did it go?"

_This is some crazy shit._

"Courtney, listen, we can explain," Stefan said. He put his hands out like I was a wild animal and he was trying to pet me. Like a wild animal, I stepped away from him when he stepped towards me. "This isn't my blood."

"It makes sense," I whispered. "You moved too fast to be a human. Too strong to be a human. You said you knew him from 1864, from almost 200 years ago, yet you look 17. You both heal faster than any human could heal in months." I finally got the courage to look Stefan in the eye. "You're a fucking vampire. And you're dating my sister…"

"Courtney…"

It finally hit me.

"But Elena knew already, didn't she?" Stefan said nothing. "Fuck you." I backed away from the both of them. "Fuck you and your brother." I turned to Damon. "Fuck you for thinking you could be my friend, then just feed off me. Fuck you for thinking that everything would be alright and that I'd be in the dark. Stefan, stay away from my family! Stay away from Jeremy, Jenna, Elena and me."

"Courtney, wait!" I heard Stefan call from behind me. He touched my arm, but I pulled away violently. I got shivers. Not from fear. From anger.

"Get the hell away from me! Don't touch me or talk to me. Don't look at me or think of me. I hate you for keeping this from me." I turned to go to the door, before I stopped. "You killed all those people, didn't you? I wasn't going to tell anyone, but now I don't think I can keep this to myself."

I opened the door with those last words, but I never made it out of the house. Damon appeared beside me and slammed the door. With _no _fear, I turned to Damon and spat on him. "Now, you little fiend, let me out or so help me, I don't care how super-fucking-natural you are, I will kick your ass."

I felt arms around my waist and I found myself on the couch. Damon and Stefan were standing in front of me.

"What the hell?" I screamed. I tried to stand up, but Damon pushed me down.

"She reacts like this every single time," Damon said to his brother. "Can't we just keep her like this? Can't she just know?"

"Wait, I've learned you were vampires before?" I asked, losing the anger in my voice. Damon nodded with a fake frown and turned to Stefan on the phone.

"Elena, she's found out again. Do we compel her?" Stefan said into the phone. _That little bitch? I knew she knew all along and she didn't even plan to tell me. Wait, is Elena one of them too?_

Like Damon could read my mind, he shook his head 'no.'

"Okay, will do." Stefan hung up the phone and turned to me. "Damon, could you do it?"

Damon just bent down at my level and looked into my eyes.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"You won't remember any of this. You won't remember that you came to our house and that you saw what happened. You won't remember anything about vampires. Now sleep," Damon said to me. His pupils grew smaller then returned to the normal size and I listened.

I simply forgot everything and fell asleep for a third time that night.

I was walking down the street in the rain for no reason. I woke up in my bed that morning feeling…empty. It was one of those times when I felt like there was nothing to live for. Of course I wasn't going to do anything stupid like skip town without telling anyone or kill myself. I just needed a little time to myself, that was all.

It was a huge mistake to go out on the town in the rain alone…without your mobile. There was a man up ahead in the rain. He was just standing there on the sidewalk like he was waiting. It wasn't until I got too close when I realized he was waiting for me. I tried to walk past him, but he didn't let me. I tried to turn around and there we two men that blocked by way that certainly weren't there before.

"Hey, I just want to get past," I told the man when I turned back to him.

"My name is Fredrick," he said to me, disregarding my statement. "And you're coming with me.

Next thing I know, I'm in a basement with two mens' hands around my arms. And guess who was right in front of me tied up and shirtless (looking incredibly sexy)? Stefan fucking Salvatore. My sister's boyfriend was tied up in someone's basement.

"What the fuck are you doing? Are you going to rape us?" I asked, not even realizing there were knives on a table until I said what I said. Fredrick chuckled.

"Stop. Don't bring her into this!" Stefan demanded.

"Hey, rapist," I called. Fredrick actually turned his head to me. "Could you let Stefan go? I don't know what's going on in your sick, twisted mind, but we're teenagers and we would hate for you to rape us."

"You compelled her, didn't you?"

"He did what now?" I questioned. All the men, including Stefan, ignored me.

"Just leave her out of it," Stefan pleaded.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Fredrick turned to me and said, "Remember everything they told you to forget last night."

_Stefan and Damon Salvatore are vampires. And my sister knows about it._

"All of you are bitches," I blurted out without thought. Fredrick's smile fell off his face. "You've tied up Stefan, who is also a bitch, and you're probably going to drink me."

"Honey, I'd shut up if I were you," Fredrick advised sounding irritated.

"Freddie," I taunted with a smile on my face. "Read my lips. I don't give a damn what you do to me. You. Can. Go. Fuck. Yourself. But you better let Stefan go."

"And if I don't?"

"I'll drive a stake up your ass."

"Okay, tie her up. But don't kill her just yet, she has a mouth on her," Fredrick ordered to the two vampires holding my arms. Roughly, they got some ropes and tied it around my legs and wrists.

"Hey," I snapped when they really fucked up. "I know you're vampires and it's in your nature to be asses, but could you cut me some slack? I'm not in the fucking mood."

One chuckled, but made no effort to let up his violent grip while the other ignored me all together. Once they were done, Fredrick and the other vampires went up the stairs. They tied me up in a way where my hands were above me and my body was hanging, like Stefan, but his ropes were sizzling against his skin.

"So, wanna tell me what the hell is happening?" I asked sarcastically.

"It's better if you didn't know," Stefan replied.

"Let me rephrase that: tell me what the hell is happening, Stefan."

Stefan repeated, "Better if you didn't know."

"Stefan, I am hanging by my wrists, tied up by a bunch of vampires and a vampire tied up next to me. Stefan, you will tell me right now or I will find a way out of these binds and torture it out of you."

"Fine. A bunch of vampires locked in a tomb want revenge on my brother and I for a woman who locked them in there because she loved us so much. And I killed his girlfriend, Bethanne."

"So, I'm not a part of this at all?"

"No, not really," Stefan answered out of breath. He struggled trying to get out of the ropes.

"FREDRICK! Get you blood-sucking, kind of cute ass down here before I come up there!" I yelled angrily. Before I knew it, Fredrick was down there, right in front of me.

"You think my ass is cute?"

"I said kind of. Now, why the hell am I here?" I demanded. Fredrick shook his head and started to walk up the stairs. "No, get back here."

"Quiet," he snapped. I stayed quiet not to follow his orders, but to listen. There were footsteps above us.

"Finally, someone who's not crazy," I mumbled to myself.

"If you make any noise, I will kill you in a slow, painful way," Fredrick warned.

"Yeah, but I said your ass was cute. Doesn't that get me somewhere?" Fredrick and his little bitches leave Stefan and me to ourselves and walk away from the room. As soon as they're out of sight, I turn to Stefan. "You're a vampire, so can you use your vamp hearing to tune into what they're saying?"

"Already on it," Stefan told me. I waited quietly as he listened stilly. "It's Alaric. His car broke down a few miles back and he needs to use their phone."

"I get the idea that he's working with your brother?"

"Maybe, shh…" Stefan listened in again. "Dammit," he cursed. "Alaric created noise, so I can't hear anything. All I know is, they're on a rescue mission."

"Okay, so we'll be okay." Stefan and I stood…hung there in silence. Then we both heard the sound of a window smashing. Our heads snapped towards each other as we listened in. There was nothing else after that I could hear, but I knew Stefan could.

"Thank you…for trying to help me," Stefan said to the dark skinned boy sitting in the chair. I hadn't said anything to the man before because I thought he was one of them just watching us. Then, as I was inspecting the man, I realized his hands were tied behind his back and there were stakes through his legs.

"They just needed someone to blame," the boy answered, "Someone to punish."

Elena breaks through the door right after the boy answered.

"Elena," Stefan breathed. Elena rushed over to him and then caught sight of me.

"They took my sister? Those bastards."

"Ooh, Elena Gilbert cussing? Not only did they tie me up, they drugged me," I joked trying to stop her from making too much sound. She only shook her head and hugged me.

"I'm going to get you out of here," she whispered to me.

"You shouldn't be here…" Stefan scolded as she hugged him.

"She was supposed to stay in the car."

"Finally, vampire number two shows up. I was wondering when you'd come rescue your brother," I said smiling at him sarcastically. Damon went to stake the boy in the chair, but I said, "No, no. Not him."

"Whatever, let's get you two down and out of here," Damon replied going behind my back.

"There's vervain on the ropes," Stefan warned out of breath again.

"Fine, Elena, pull that," Damon instructed. I felt myself falling, but I didn't hit the ground because a certain blue-eyed vampire caught me.

"Thanks vampy."

"Anything for a friend," Damon answered. Damon and Elena did the same thing for Stefan as I tried to take off the ropes from my wrists. "Alright, let's go. Clothes on."

"Wait," Stefan said.

"What? Guys, c'mon. We have to get out of here," Damon whined like a baby at the doorway. I pulled out one of the stakes from the boy's leg while Stefan pulled out the other. "Okay, good, now let's go." I helped Elena carry Stefan out the door, but not before turning back to the boy in the chair.

"What's your name?" I asked as I was cutting the ropes.

"Harper," he answered.

"Well, Harper, I hear you helped my friend. And for that, I am thankful. Now, if you can, go stake those other vampires' asses. Unless you have some kind of pact?"

I finally cut Harper loose and he groaned. "Nope, I really want to, but I can't. Not without Ms. Pearl's say. Thank you, though."

"Hey, if you ever want to hang out, you just made a friend. I'll see you at the Grill." I winked at Harper and left.

Stefan, Damon and Elena were out of sight by the time I got out to the hallway. On the floor, there was a vampire. I didn't know which way to go, up the stairs or continue on. I decided go upstairs for some dumbass reason. When I got up there, all I saw was a man about to come for Damon, but instead he falls dead on the floor with a stake in his back. Alaric was revealed behind him holding up a crossbow of some sorts.

"Our history teacher is a badass vampire slayer, I like it," I said totally ignoring the fact we were in a house full of vampires.

"I'm going after Fredrick," Damon said to the both of us, running past me.

Alaric and I just stood there in silence. "So, where's the car?"

"Just go down the woods and you'll find it," Ric answered.

"Thanks," I mumbled as I went past him to the door. "And Ric?"

"Yeah?"

"Slay some vampire ass. And slay it good." Alaric nodded and just kept on going to where Damon was. I opened and closed the door as quietly as possible. It was still pouring outside, so there was no way I was making it to the getaway car dry. Not that it mattered.

I ran like hell though. At first, when I was actually in the house full of vampires, I was fearless. I had an adrenaline rush in there. But now that I was out, I was scared shitless. It had hit me that I had been running my mouth in there and that could have gotten both Stefan and I killed. Elena would have brought be back to life just to kill me for keeping my stupid attitude in front of asshole vampires. I would kill me. Then when I realized I could have been killed along with Damon if Alaric didn't take that vampire out. I could have been killed so many times but I didn't even notice it until I was _alive and running. _There were many trees. So many trees it was hard to see, but the rain was the worst. The ground was slippery, the rain was pouring down so violently, the droplets made you dizzy. I fell a few times, but I got right back up and continued running. It was like my dream I had. When I was running from something. A _vampire. Damon._

I fell a few feet in front of a car. I didn't have it in me to keep my eyes open. It was like I was breathing in and out, but there was no air. Everything was slow. I could hear Elena yelling at me, but the words weren't right. The world started getting dimmer and dimmer. I couldn't see anything anymore. Just blurs of things. I passed out, as always.

Elena was right next to my bed. Across from me is Damon. On the other side of me is Jeremy. I had a panic attack last night while I was trying to get away, but I couldn't say that. Jeremy was in the room and I could bet $500 Elena didn't tell him.

"Vicki was found," Jeremy told me out loud. My head instantly perked up at the sound of that. My best friend finally decided she'd come back home. About time because it was getting intense while she was gone.

Yet no one seemed happy. I knew Elena didn't really like Vicki because she was a druggie and she was a bad influence on her younger siblings, but I knew she didn't like to see either Jer or me in pain. Damon didn't even know the chick, I still wasn't sure why he was here. Maybe he just wanted to check on his buddy. Jeremy was practically in love with her, so I'm stumped.

"So, where is she?"

"They took her body to the morgue yesterday. And guess who found her? Caroline…"

"Wait, Caroline found her? Where?"

"Near the falls," Elena answered.

"Matt must be so happy that she's home. And Kelly probably…" My voice wandered off when my brain had finally processed through what Jeremy said. "Took her to the morgue?"

"Sis, I'm sorry," Jer hopped on my bed and wrapped his arms around me. I sat there frozen at the news.

_She's gone? No, she can't be._

"Jeremy." I harshly pushed him off of me. Jeremy, Elena and Damon all looked confused. "This isn't funny. Where the hell is Victoria Donovan?"

Elena replied this time. "She's dead."

"Fuck you."

I got up from the bed and ran to the bathroom that I had alone. I closed the door and locked it. Both Jeremy and Elena were banging on the door begging me to come out.

"You're lying!" I accused. "Both of you. Vicki's fine. She's with Matt right now and she's not dead. Stop playing this sick joke on me. It's not funny!"

"Please, I'm dying too. She's dead and we can't bring her back."

Tears were falling down my cheeks violently as looked at myself in the mirror.

_No, she can't be. She can't be dead. They're lying. They are such fucking liars. Vicki is with her mom and brother and she's probably going to call me. She probably already called and I just missed it._

"Vicki's okay, Vicki's okay, Vicki's okay," I repeated to myself over and over again. Eventually Lena and Jere stopped knocking at the door. I found myself rocking back and forth on the floor of my bathroom, repeating out loud, "Vicki's okay."

My best friend was still alive. She was still okay.

I didn't know how long I was in the bathroom, but I finally opened the door and found Elena and Jeremy on the opposite wall waiting for me. When they both saw me, they got up and wiped away their eyes.

"She's really dead, isn't she?" I asked looking past them at Damon. When they both answered yes, I looked to Damon for a real answer. He just nodded. Another tear rolled down my cheek as I let out a sob. All three of them opened up their arms for me to cry in, but I only went for one. Damon. He just let me cry in his arms until I was all out. He didn't whisper it was going to be okay or that I was going to make it through this, he just sat there and held me like Vicki would have done.

"Courtney, look at me," he murmured into my hair. I looked up into his icy blue eyes. "I want you to forget all you saw yesterday. I just took a very long nap that ran into today."

"I just had a very long nap that ran into today," I repeated back to him.

"You wanna go see Matt?" Damon suggested.

"Yes, I would love to go see Matt," I agreed forgetting anything about yesterday. I just had a nap. A long, dreamless nap.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"C'mon guys!" Elena yelled up to us. "I'm leaving, walking out the door now."

I grabbed my bag and phone and looked at myself in the mirror. I was dedicating my outfit to Vicki who wanted me to wear it so bad. It was a white crop top with diamond studs that ending right at my chest. It would totally break dress code, but I was thinking of ditching school. With that, I had some black shorts on with suspenders and black leather boots. I had my favorite bag with me; a beige Marc Jacobs drawstring. I was looking smoking hot, not that I needed to for anyone.

I nodded at my refection in the mirror and headed downstairs. I found someone with my aunt and Elena that I didn't think would come.

"Uncle John!" I screamed. John looked at me with a smile and opened his arms for me. I jumped into them and gave him a big hug. For some reason, a lot of my family hated Uncle John, but we got along great. He taught me how to shoot arrows with a bow and crossbow and fight away pedophiles. Uncle John was just about the best you could get.

But Elena didn't think so.

She hated John with burning passion. She never told anyone that except me, her twin. She said that there was something off about him and that we couldn't trust him. Of course I just waved her off and loved him anyway. Even though Jeremy had warmed up to him a bit, as Elena grew up, she got colder. Her hate for him was bigger than Damon's ego.

"What are you doing here?"

"Aunt Jenna invited him," Elena answered sounding angry.

"Uncle John," Jeremy stated as he walked down the stairs. John and I finally let go, but the smile was still on my face. Elena shot me a disappointed look and I shook my head at her. "What's up?"

"Jeremy, hey. I had some business in town. I thought a visit was in order."

"Great, that's great," I said.

"How long are you staying?" Elena asked taking a deep breath.

"I don't know yet," John replied.

"Okay, well, I'm going to go to school. I'll see you later." Elena waved at him and walked out the door behind Jeremy.

"And where are you going looking like that?" John and Jenna interrogated me at the same time.

"I happen to be going to school with my sister and brother. I'll see you two later," I waved like Elena did, but I shot John a wink.

The car ride to school was silent and pretty dead except for the eye conversation Elena and I had going on. She was mad at me for being a good niece to my uncle. I tried to convince her, with my eyes, that it was okay and she should try being nice every once in a while. She flipped me off and continued driving.

"'Lena, I need the keys," I said. Elena raised her eyebrow at me before reluctantly giving me the keys to the car. "Don't worry; I'm just going to get some coffee. See ya, sis."

I hopped into the car and planned on driving out of Mystic Falls for the day. Jeremy was going to get a ride from his lover and Elena and Stefan were dating, he'd totally drive her. Although, he wasn't showing up at school lately.

I turned on the radio to Lady Gaga.

"Something, something about this place," I sang along as I drove. "Something, something about lonely nights and my lipstick on your face. Something, something about my cool Nebraska guy. Yeah, something baby, 'bout you and I."

Seven songs later, I was out of the town's bounds and into other parts of Virginia. I wasn't exactly sure where I was going, but I knew I wanted to get drunk somewhere. If I had Vicki by my side, I knew that's what she would have done with me.

"Don't need to know where I'm going, just need to know where I've been."

"And then he kissed me right there on the toilet," I retold to a bunch of strangers. They all laughed with me while I took another shot. "Hit me baby, one more time," I said to the bartender. She smiled and continued to fill up my drink. I wasn't a lightweight. I knew everything that was going on, but I just wanted them to think I was about to fall on the ground and laugh. I was surrounded by men and the only woman was the bartender. Tammy , I thought her name was.

I was in a bar just outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. It took me almost the whole day, but I was happy it did. I got there about three o'clock and happy hour had just started for the second time. They had happy hour three times at that bar. Then I started telling about my crazy life and the people loved it. They just ate it up.

"You need to write a damn book," one of the men, Lewis, suggested holding his beer up to me. "You'd make so much money, you could share it with me."

"You are so right, I need to do that. Then, every day I could come back to my favorite bar on a private jet. Lewis, my bae, you are the smartest drunk I've ever met." We all had a laugh for no reason as I phone was ringing in my pocket. "I gotta take this."

I slipped of the stool at the bar and went to the ladies bathroom to talk.

_Damon calling._

"Damon, babe, how you doing?"

_"Where the hell are you?"_

"Damon," I scolded. "What is with that tone?"

_"Your sister, aunt, brother and uncle have been worrying about you all day. You haven't answered any of their calls. Where the hell are you?"_

"Damon, baby, calm yo tits and let me just explain what's going to happen. I am going to drive back to Mystic Falls under the influence, probably get myself killed and you are going to comfort Elena when she starts crying over me. Then she'll realize what a hunk you are and you'll fall in love. I know you love her, Damon. I can see it in your eyes every time you see her. I'll be doing you a favor. Now you can thank me."

_"Courtney Gilbert, just tell me where the hell you are," _Damon demanded on the phone.

"Good lord, child, fine, I'll tell you. I'm at some bar in North Carolina. It's called, maybe _Jimmy's Restaurant and Bar. _Or maybe it's something else. I can't remember."

_"You're in freaking North Carolina?"_

"I think that's what I said," I replied.

_"Okay, fine, I can work with that. Just stay there Courtney and I'm coming to get you as soon as I can. Don't do anything stupid like go somewhere with someone. Okay?"_

"Yes, sir!"

_"Can I trust you?"_

"Yes, sir!"

_"I'm going to hang up now. Are you okay?"_

"Actually," I started to say as I felt something coming up. "I feel like I'm going to take a dump through my mouth. Bye, Damon." I hung up the phone and ran into one of the stalls. There, all the alcohol and crap I ate came up from the past few hours. Shit…

"I need a breath mint," I mumbled to myself before taking another round. I flushed the toilet after laying my cheek on the seat for a little while. It hit me that millions of butts had it that, and I jumped up. Cursing to myself, I went to the sink and started scrubbing violently.

"Court," my sister's voice rang through the bathroom like the bell at school. I whipped around to see Elena standing right in front of me. The sobered me up quickly.

"Elena, how did you get here?" I questioned confused as fuck.

"Courtney, sweet, innocent, stupid Courtney." Elena took a step towards me. I was confused. "I'm not your sister."

"What the hell, Elena?"

Elena's expression changed. It was a mix between disappointment and amusement. "She never told you, did she?"

"'Lena, you're scaring me."

"She never told you about me." Elena smiled. Not a sweet smile, but a twisted, ruthless smile that scared me, yet excited me at the same time. Elena looked straight into my eyes and said, "Call me if you ever want to know." Then Elena slipped a piece of paper into my fingers before she was gone.

I looked around the bathroom, but I found no sign of anyone else being in there. I was seriously going crazy. Instead of resuming scrubbing my cheek to get any other germs off, I washed my hands, swished a little water throughout my mouth and walked back to my friends I met.

"Sorry guys, but I have to go. I'd love to stay and chat, but I have an overprotective friend and sister on my ass," I explained and I picked up my bag. They all groaned and took another sip.

"Hon, it won't be the same," Tammy told me.

"I know, but I promise to come back. It'll all be fine and we'll all be fine. Adios." I waved to them all and they waved back to me. Luckily, they didn't steal my keys, because they're good people…or they didn't steal them because they were too drunk off their asses.

I opened the car door and waited for Damon. I wasn't sure how I was going to get the car back if he was driving me, but I just believed he had a plan. It was about an hour of games on my phone and singing when I finally saw Damon's car pull into the small parking lot. Out stepped both Damon and Stefan looking a little irritated. I put on a smile and opened the door.

"You could make it. I was beginning to doubt you, but here you are, coming through for me," I greeted as I walked up to them. Damon snagged my arm and looked me straight into the eyes.

"Do you know how worried Elena was? She was going on and on about how she would never forgive herself you got her for _your _stupidity. Damn you," Damon snapped.

"Well, someone's in a bad mood." I frowned and looked at Stefan who was looking just as pissed off.

"Damn right I am."

"Get in the car," Stefan demanded.

"And why should I do that?" I grabbed ahold of Damon's hand and peeled it off of me. I kept the note the woman gave me firmly in my hand without showing it off too much.

"Because, Elena's in your room with Jeremy and Jenna crying her eyes out holding your picture taped to a teddy bear's face. Get in the goddamn car."

"Everything's about Elena, isn't it?" I screamed. Stefan and Damon stopped for a second to listen to what I had to say. "If Elena isn't happy, neither is anyone else in the world. If Elena doesn't get what she wants, let's all just stop the world and our lives to make sure she gets it. Well I'm done."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Stefan asked.

"I'm done following Elena's rules. She isn't God and she can't tell me what to do. All of you put her on a pedestal, worshipping her as your goddess. Well, I have my own life. I just ditched school because my best friend, who Elena hated, died. Apparently, the universe follows what Elena wants too. Elena wanted Vicki gone and mysteriously, Vicki's gone."

"Are you blaming Elena for Vicki's death?"

"If the fucking shoe fucking fits!" I yelled at Stefan. A few people in the parking lot stared at us, but left to go inside anyway. I heard a few come out and I could already tell it was my friends.

"Courtney, are these men bothering you?" Lewis asked behind me.

"Stay out of this, old man," Damon snipped.

"No, Lewis," I answered not looking at him. When I turned to his caring eyes, my expression softened. "I guess I'm fine. Go back to your beer. I'll see you next time." I smiled just to show him I was okay and he smiled back at me. Lewis looked at Damon one more time, flipped him off and turned back to go to the bar.

"Courtney," Stefan started. "Elena didn't cause Vicki's death."

"I know, but she sure did want her dead. I wanted to forget my life for a day and come have fun. Elena doesn't let anyone else have fun unless it's her idea. Mind you, I love my sister to absolute bits, but I can't even anymore. I'm just done. Now, I am going to get into that car," I pointed to the car Elena was renting because she wrecked her other one. "And I'm just going to drive. You can follow me if you want to, but I'm just going to drive and have fun wherever it takes me. I don't even care if I run out of money. I just don't want to go back home."

Stefan's eyes softened when he realized what was really going on. "Courtney, you have us by your side."

"Yeah, but Elena always comes first. None of my friends have noticed I'm not okay. I'm not alright. My parent died in an accident only my twin survived. Then my best friend gets attacked, takes more drugs then skips town. But wait." I threw my hands up in the air. "Turns out she was dead the whole fucking time. Then one of my other best friend's Grams died and she's MIA on me when I need her and she needs me. I find my mother, think she's dead then it actually turns out she just doesn't want to meet me. I still don't know who my dad is and all while that is happening, everyone is happy except me! And while I'm down here in the dumps, everyone is putting Elena first to make sure she's okay. Stefan, I'M NOT FUCKING OKAY!"

"Court, I know. And I'm sorry for not noticing," Stefan apologized. Damon just stood there with a frown on his face.

_I fucking give up._

"Fuck this." I tossed the keys to Damon and headed towards his car. "Fine, I'll go with you. I'll go make sure _Elena's _okay and make _her _happy. Who the hell cares about my happiness? It's not nearly as important as hers."

"Courtney, you need to understand that I care for you…" Stefan stopped talking when I put up one finger in the air.

"Just get in the damn car without any attitude," Damon commanded tossing the keys for his car to Stefan.

"Sorry, Damon. I'll try it with a little more enthusiasm," I apologized sarcastically. My tone was softer and louder with a fake smile. "Who the hell cares about my happiness?" I repeated. "It's not nearly as important as hers."

"Shut up."

I got in the car next to Stefan, who was in the driver's seat.

"Courtney, I'm sorry you had been feeling this way," Stefan said to me after minutes of silence. I said nothing back to him. "I didn't know that you were feeling so… hurt."

"Well of course you didn't Stefan, it's not your fault," I faked a caring tone. "Stefan, we need to worry about Elena, not me." Stefan rolled his eyes and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "We need to go back to Mystic Falls right now and comfort Elena. She needs it more than I do."

"This isn't funny Courtney," Stefan growled. "I care about you."

"As your girlfriend's twin sister, I get it," I replied with the faux care.

"No, I care about you as my friend," Stefan insisted harshly. He looked at me for a while, just staring into my eyes. I could see real care and pain in those green orbs. After a while of staring, Stefan looked back at the road. "You're my friend and I wish you would have told me how you felt."

I responded after a little bit of thinking, "Stefan, I feel fine."

"Then what the hell was that little outburst back there? Huh? Was that nothing? Cause it sure didn't look or sound like nothing."

"That was the alcohol talking," I answered simply with a forced smile on my face.

"That alcohol knows an awful lot."

"Look, Stefan," I finally broke. "I know what I said and Damon's reply was right. I'm overreacting and I sound focus on the important person; Elena. She's the older, prettier twin whose opinion seems to matter the most."

"But~"

"Stefan, I'm fine," I interrupted. Stefan decided to say nothing after that and we rode the rest of the way silently.

Stefan and I and Damon in the other car made it to my house by eleven o'clock. Stefan decided to walk me in while Damon waited by the car. As we walked up the stairs, (surprisingly (not) there was no one downstairs, so I assumed they were all in my room comforting the one and only (although I look exactly like her) Elena Gilbert) Stefan said nothing to me. We walked in  
>complete silence. Until I broke it of course, in front of my room.<p>

"Stefan, I want to thank you. You actually showed an interest in me today while Damon worried about Elena just like everyone else." Stefan just nodded his head and gave me a supportive smile. I nodded back at him and tried to return the smile, but just ended up with a weird looking grin. I opened the door to Elena on my bed, Uncle John staring out my window, Jeremy on the floor at the foot of my bed and Jenna looking at my pictures on my dresser.

"Well, I know I'm loved." All eyes were on me.

"Courtney!" Elena squealed and jumped off my bed into my arms. "Why the hell did you go? Why did you just ditch school like that?" I felt all their arms come around me, even Stefan's and Uncle John's.

"Why would you leave us like that? I was so worried," Jeremy sobbed.

"You know you're grounded, right?" I was guessing that was Jenna.

"Hey, I guess I missed you guys too. What's for dinner?"

They all froze and took their hands off me. I looked at them with a confused expression.

_What happened to the love?_

"You ditch school," John said.

Elena continued on for him, "Take the car and tell no one where you're going."

Jeremy continues, "Don't answer your phone when we call for hours."

Jenna finishes, "And finally, at eleven at night, you decide to show up and you say 'what's for dinner?'"

"Because I want to know what I'm eating for dinner," I responded.

Elena blew up in my face. Yup, she cussed like she was the captain of the ship.

John knocked on my door and when I said "Come in," he poked his head in.

"Hey, _Birdy_," John greeted as he came in the door. When he closed it behind him, I knew it was something important. Uncle John would always call me _Birdy _because I loved to whistle. I'd whistle whenever I got the chance and the nickname just stuck with me. "I have something to give you. A ring." John sat on my bed as he pulling the present from behind his back. There wasn't much to the ring. Just a purple, heart-shaped locket on a silver band. It was actually quite beautiful to me.

"Johnny, thank you," I said as I grabbed the ring and put it on my right hand, ring finger. "It looks amazing. Where'd you get this?"

"I made it, just for you," Uncle John answered. I smiled at him. This just proved that John was an amazing uncle and that Elena was wrong about him.

"Thank you so much. I love it."

"Now, about what happened…?"

"Uncle John, can we please not get into that. I really don't want to hear that speech all over again, and not from you. You're my favorite uncle and I don't need any safety lecture, again.

"I just want you to know what you did was badass and pretty funny and something I'd probably do when I was your age, but it scared your sister and Jenna. You shouldn't do that again, for the sake of their happiness."

"Yeah, I wish I didn't scare them that bad. They're pains in my ass, but I love them both." Uncle John smiled at me. "Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight, _Birdy_." John got up from my bed and waved to me. "Sleep tight."

"Don't let the vampires bite," I called out to him teasingly. Uncle John stopped at the door and turned to look back at me. Etched on his face was horror and worried look, but he said nothing. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing, I'm fine." Uncle John closed the door quickly and fled downstairs. Well, I guess he doesn't like horror stories. I was only kidding. Or was I?

Nope, I was kidding.

_I was running through the forest again, only this time I knew that if I got away, I'd never be happy again. Damon was behind me with someone else who I couldn't remember. They decided they were going to drink from me and use me as a blood bag as they did Elena, but even if I got away, I had a feeling that I wouldn't be myself ever again. So I stopped and waited for them both._

_"Darling, I don't here you running anymore," A British voice called from a few feet away._

_"That's because I stopped," I screamed back, fear disappearing. I really did feel fearless again. It must have been the adrenaline kicking in to make sure when they got close, I was going to defend myself. Or maybe it was the rush of knowing I would probably die. Dying wasn't my favorite thought, but dying in a forest was my favorite place to die._

_"That wasn't a good idea." Those words made my blood turn cold and my body grow numb. Maybe he was right. Maybe I shouldn't have stopped running. I should have kept going and got the hell out of the forest so I… I didn't want to die. Not yet. I had so much I wanted to do in live before I went. I wanted to get married and have children. Before that, go to college and meet a boy. Have parties and fall in love. I didn't want to die._

_It was too late anyway. I could see them both just up ahead. One of them was in front of me, the other behind. I was screwed royally. I couldn't run because they could both catch me and kill me. I couldn't hide, they'd just find me. And—_

_Why was I afraid, again? They were just people, like me. They couldn't kill me, they wouldn't kill me. From the looks of it, I could just fight back, thanks to the skills John taught me. I was going to be fine against the two men because I had nature on my side. There were sticks for stabbing, dirt for throwing and trees for slamming. I was going to survive against the two._

_Then they showed their faces._

_Veins below their eyes were showing up and canine teeth grew longer than they should have. I knew why I was afraid._

_These bastards were fucking vampires._

_"I always knew your blood smelt good," the blonde one said, with the accent. Both Damon and British closed in on me at the same time. I felt four sharp pains in my neck and my wrist. That was the only part that hurt. After the bite, the pain goes away and it just feels like you're losing blood. Then British dug his fangs even more in my neck. I couldn't help but let out a scream._

_When I dropped to the ground, I was pretty sure that I was dead. My heartbeat was gone, my eyes were wide open, but dead and my body was pale._

_"And today, local teen Courtney Gilbert is found dead, body drained of blood, in the middle of a forest."_

_I could already hear the news._

_Then my eyes snapped open. I was alive again._

Then I woke up.

I was sweating in my covers, I was sticky. I was panting like I actually ran throughout the forest trying to get away from both the vampires. I tried to remember what happened, but the dream slowly started to fade away. All I could remember is that I was running through the forest. And the weirdest thing about it was I found a thin, small pine needle in my bed.

"Courtney!" Elena called from downstairs. "Come and get it!" I stayed home because I wasn't feeling up to going back to school. Those drinks really did me bad and the hangover was the biggest bitch I had ever had. I had slept a few times that day but I wasn't even tired. I just fell asleep.

"Yeah, okay!"

I got up from my bed and slipped on some fuzzy, pink slippers like in the cliché movies. I was feeling mediocre the day I bought them, so… I dragged myself down the stairs to find Jenna and Uncle John arguing again. I tried to ignore them, but it was kind of hard when John was talking to both Jeremy and I then Jenna interrupted him with some witty comment. I loved them both dearly, but I was ditching.

"Okay, this is a nice dinner, but I'm not that hungry." I wiped my mouth and got up from the table. "Don't worry Uncle John, I'm a Gilbert, I'll be going while some people not cool enough can stay home and mope about how she misses her high school lover." John winked at me while Jenna flipped me off. I winked back at Uncle John and stuck my tongue out at Jenna. I headed upstairs and was about to go into my room when I heard a crash in Elena's room. I rushed over and pulled open her door to see Elena looking scared on the bed staring at Stefan all the way across the room, looking just as scared and frustrated.

"Stefan?"

"What the hell happened here?" I asked as I walked to Stefan to try and help him up. He refused most of my help. He looked troubled. "Steffers, what's going on?" Stefan just fled from the room and downstairs, out the door. I turned to Elena with a confused look on my face.

"We kind of had a fight," Elena reluctantly told me.

"Did you happen to throw him across the room?"

"No, he just flung himself over there so he wouldn't hurt me," Elena replied. When she noticed my alarmed look, she added, "I started the fight, really."

"Elena, does he hurt you?"

"No! NO!" she tried to deny. "We just had a really bad fight, that's all."

"Elena," I said very seriously. I, Courtney Gilbert, didn't take things or situations very seriously no matter how bad they are. I loved to make a joke about it to lighten the mood and get everyone out of their grumpy pants, but when it came to hurting family, I didn't play around. "'Lena, if he's hurting you, I don't do that shit. I am prepared to go fuck him up for you."

"No, I'm fine," she tried to convince.

"'Lena, promise you'll tell me if he's hurting you?"

"I pinky promise." I smiled as Elena held up her pinky. She knew it was my favorite way to make promises. "Stefan Salvatore is not hurting me, Elena Gilbert, and when he does, _if _he ever does, I promise I will tell you, Courtney Gilbert."

"Good, soldier. I taught you well," I congratulated.

Elena laughed. "You didn't teach me anything."

"Then let's just pretend I did." I saluted Elena before marching out of her room into mine. _Ah, now I get more sleep. _But I decided that I would sing a little before laying my head down and getting my beauty sleep. We needed to face it; this beauty didn't come from eating right and exercising. That's how Elena kept her good looking face (if I do say so myself).

"By the way, you can't go to sleep because we have the Founder's Party," John yelled up to me.

"How does he know me so well?" I asked loudly.

"Because you're just a younger version of me," Johns responded, popping his head in my door causing me to jump violently.

"Good lord, child." I held my hand over my heart. "You scared me~"

"Language," John warned.

"A lot," I quickly changed. "Anyway, I'm more female. And I have less facial hair, like a woman should."

"I think you just said I'm a woman."

"Your words, not mine."

"Anyway, do your female thing and get ready while I do mine." Uncle John gave me a knowing look and I rolled my eyes. I flicked my hands at him, indicating for him to go away. He put his hands up defenseless and closed the door.

I stuck with a very simple outfit. It was a black and white dress above the waist that had a zip up in the front. The silk black of the dress ran at the back to my ankles while the front stopped at my knees. I added some black heels with gold and a studded, black snake ring. It wasn't the best I could come up with, but I didn't feel like thinking too hard on my outfit.

The last thing I could find in my closet at last minute was my black and white clutch Vicki and I picked up when we ditched school together. It was the second day of sophomore year while it was the second day of freshman for her. Elena and Matt were still dating, so they didn't notice when we were gone. We found our way to a mall and went on a shopping spree with mom's credit card that was only for _emergencies. _To Vicki and me, it was an emergency; a _fashion emergency. _It was the day we really bonded and became better friends. It was also the day Elena claimed she didn't like Vicki or how I was hanging out with her.

I smiled at the larger sized wallet and stuffed my phone in.

"Okay, Courtney Gilbert is ready and looking sexy," I announced as I walked down. Jeremy rolled his eyes while Jenna clapped with a giddy smile on her face. "I will be escorted to the Founder's Party by my handsome uncle, who my aunt was sleeping with, Jonathan Gilbert."

Uncle John held out his arm for me to take. "Don't wait up for us," I added as we walked out the door.

"This party blows," I commented as Tyler came up to me.

"Don't mention it," Tyler replied downing something from a flask. I stole from him and mumbled, "Give me that." We stood there taking turns drinking…whatever it was before a fast song started playing.

"Can you say finally?"

"Would you like to dance?" Tyler asked disregarding my last comment.

"Why yes," I answered taking the hand he put out for me. Instead of pulling me on the dance floor like a normal person, Tyler tugged on my arm before spinning me around and then picking me up just to spin me around again. "Tyler, I knew you were crazy, I just didn't know you were insane." Tyler just smiled and kept dancing with me. We danced for a few songs until I saw Jere leave Damon and Sheriff Forbes looking troubled. "Hey, Ty, this was awesome, but I have to go." I tangled myself out of his arms, and send him another smile before venturing off to where Jere went.

I found him in the living room drinking something next to the fire. He looked devastated and frustrated at the same time.

"Jerebear, what's going on?" I sat next to him on the couch and took a sip of his drink. _Good, it's no alcohol._ Or maybe I was such a drunk, I couldn't tell the difference.

"I just wanted to know more about Vicki's death. They said she ODed but I have a feeling that's not what happened." Jere snatched his glass back and took a swig. "She was buried, not left there for dead. She had to be with someone and why would that someone let her die and just leave her there?"

"People are cruel, Jere. I wish it wasn't that way, but they are and you need to know that I'm here for you. I miss her too Jere and I hope the person that just left her there is caught. They should have helped her while she was taking some." I looked at the fire and tried to picture my best friend's smiling face. "I only wish that I was there to help her."

"No, Courtney, it wasn't your fault. She shouldn't have been taking drugs anyway," Jere tried to comfort. I gave him a reassuring smile and squeezed his arm.

"I'm going to head home now because this party is totally dead. And yes, I'll just walk."

Jere shook his head whereas I nodded. We were repeating our actions until Elena found her way into the room. _Elena, God bless your soul. You just saved me._

"Bye!" I got up from the spot next to Jeremy and watch as Elena replaces it. I waved to all the people I walked past and snuck out the back. It was a while until I hit the fence that the Lockwoods' had to mark their property. Slipping off my shoes, I hopped over the fence onto the cold dirt under my feet.

"Vicki's death is your fault," I muttered to myself. It was true. If I had called her and made sure she was okay and not doing anything she shouldn't have been doing, she'd be alive with me right now, joking and drinking something she stole from the cellar. We'd joke about Elena and Stefan and talk about her growing crush on Jeremy. "Vicki should be here bitching about her mom and how her brother is perfect and how much she hates Elena and how badly Tyler treats her and how she keeps going back to him and how Jeremy is so sweet."

I was getting closer to my house, so I could get out of the cold.

"You should have been there with her, to make sure she didn't do anything stupid. This is your fault," I mumbled harsher and harsher as I got closer. When I finally got to my porch, I realized no one was home, so Aunt Jenna must have gone to the party anyway.

After getting the key under the mat, I opened the door and run upstairs. I stripped off the dress and threw on one of the t-shirts my dad gave me and booty shorts. I lied there on my bed for moments at a time staring at the ceiling with tears in my eyes. Maybe her death was my fault. I should have been there.

I snugged under the covers and grabbed the teddy bear my first boyfriend gave me.

"Well," I whispered out loud. "This is nice." I closed my eyes and lied there for a few seconds before I realized something. "I gotta go…"

_Katherine Pierce walked into the bar, where Stefan was feeding on a human. It was in the corner, inconspicuous and shaded. She had to admit, Stefan was getting good with this vampire thing. He didn't do what she did though, 'Catch, Eat, Erase' but his method worked too._

_She wasn't sure how Damon was doing though. She didn't bother to find out where he was and how he was taking vampirism. She just heard from Emily that Stefan forced Damon to feed causing him to become a vampire and swore that he'd make his brother's life a living hell. She was sure that Damon was alive. She cared that much for him._

_Stefan finally finished his little feast, and left the woman to her own little world. At least he didn't kill her in public. Stefan found himself with other women surrounding him at the stool where he sat down. He wondered why before he realized he compelled all of them._

_Katherine smiled at her lover. He was doing well. But alas, she had to flee._

_The door of the bar opened to a man she had been running from for a while and his sister. The Mikaelsons. Slowly, Katherine got up from her seat, hid her head and tried to make it out the bar without being seen by Klaus or his light-haired sister, Rebekah. Before she walked out the door, she turned back to see _her _Stefan smiling with the devil._

_That just wouldn't do._

_The door closed and Katherine  
>disappeared.<em>

"Bonnie!" I squealed when I saw her in the classroom when I walked in. She was of course sitting next to my sister and some girl.

"And why are you late again, Courtney?"

"Excuse me, that's my seat," I said to the girl was sitting in the seat next to Bonnie. Alaric didn't say anything so I knew that he wanted to see what was about to go down.

The girl checked around the desk and chair, and then put her hands up. "I don't see your name anywhere on it."

"See this?" I hold out my hand.

"It's empty," Bitch answered.

"That's how many fucks I give, now out of my seat," I demanded.

"No. Why do you need it anyway? It's not your seat."

"My best friend just got back after weeks of spending time with her aunt after her Grams died. I haven't seen her in forever or talked to her, so yes, I think that's my seat."

"What if I don't move, druggie?"

"I'm going to take out one of my cigarettes, I'mma light it then burn yo ass. So, I suggest you get the hell out of my seat," I snapped. She looked at me with a mean look while I shot her a sarcastic smile. She finally got up out of my seat with a stare down. "Thank you." I sat down and crossed my arms. "Whore," I mumbled under my breath. Only the guy in front of me and Bonnie could hear me so they giggled. "Hey, Bon, I've missed you."

"I've missed you too," she responded quietly.

"Lunch?"

"Lunch," Bonnie agreed.

I had my best friend back after my other one died. I was good and satisfied in life. I decided that Vicki's death wasn't my fault, only the person that was with her's fault. She ODed and I couldn't stop it no matter what. She went all MIA on us and I couldn't find her. It wasn't my fault, although, I still wish she was here.

I had to fill Bonnie on absolutely everything that had happened. Elena and Stefan getting closer, Kelly home, Matt and Caroline. Bonnie had to know the absolute knitty, gritty details.

When the period was over, I rushed out with Bonnie.

"Someone wants to get away, but the question is from who?"

"I just can't deal with someone right now," she retorted not even looking at me. I stared at her for a second, studying her face. She wasn't happy, I could tell you that, but she wasn't exactly mad either. When I saw the girls' bathroom, I pulled her in.

"What is going on?" I demanded with a soft tone.

"Nothing," Bonnie denied. "I'm feeling fine. It's just that when Elena talks to me, Stefan's always there and I don't really feel," Bonnie paused and looked away from my eyes. "I just don't feel very comfortable around him."

"So basically you're avoiding my twin because of her boyfriend? Fine, I'll fix it. I'll get Stefan away from Elena then you guys can talk. Bata-bing, bata-boom, problem solved. You're welcome," I said imitating a Sadie accent. Bonnie cracked a smile. "Operation 'Stefan Go Away' is now a go. Move out."

I winked at Bonnie, then left the bathroom in search of Stefan. I found him hanging around Elena at her locker. Smoothly, I glided over to the two lovebirds and touched Stefan's shoulder.

"Hey friend," I greeted, and turned to Elena and faked coldness. "Elena." I looked back at Stefan with a smile. "How about you and me go somewhere after fourth period? I wanna show you something before we go get something to eat. Don't worry you two; I'm not going to rape you. Alrighty, sounds like a plan? Good." Before Stefan or Elena could reply, I walked off mentally patting myself on the back for being such a good actress. I really should have been getting paid for being so awesome.

I caught Bonnie talking to some loser and whispered in her ear, "I did my part, now you do yours."

I was amazing and awesome and I was doing something good for a change. Just kidding! I was always nice. Except last period to that girl. I probably needed to apologize, but she was long gone and the school was too big to find her. Too bad, she might have actually been an okay girl.

Two periods passed when I finally got to pull Stefan away from Elena.

"Okay, Steffers, what I am about to show you is so awesome, you might go blind," I warned as I led him into the girls' bathroom. "There are two of them, so there's extra awesomeness."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't open your eyes yet." I dropped Stefan's hand in front of the mirror and started to fix my hair. _Did it look like that all morning? _"Okay, open," I said when I finally looked good. _What am I thinking, I always look good._

Stefan opened his eyes and at first he seemed disappointed, but then his eyes lit up and a smile was on his face. "Wow! Look at them! They're so attractive! Especially the one with great hair!" Stefan exclaimed.

"Well, thanks, Steffers." I smiled at the mirror and looked at his refection.

"And then there's you," Stefan stated, equally happy. The smile dropped from my face and a frown replaced it.

"Haha, Stefan, insult the girl whose twin you're dating. Real smart," I laughed sarcastically.

"What can I say? Elena is the more beautiful twin," Stefan declared.

"Hurtful," I growled, touching my hair again.

"So what am I really doing here?"

"I had to keep you away from Elena," I answered, breaking the act. _An actress never breaks character, shame on you._

"And why is that?"

"Because she needed to talk to Bonnie."

"Bye, Courtney." Stefan walked out the bathroom.

"Bye Stefano! We should do this again sometime," I called after him, but I knew he wasn't listening. _Ugh, you failed actress._

_Shut up, _the other side of me argued.

_Look, now you're talking to yourself._

_What did I say?_

"And I can't help, why?" I asked as I sat next to Elena while Jenna did her hair.

"Because, you suck ass at doing your own hair, you'll probably suck balls at doing my hair," Elena retorted, adding some blush.

I mocked her voice and started acting like Elena.

"Oh, siblings. They're a pain, aren't they?" Jenna asked.

"Yes," we both replied at the same time. "Shut up," we said in unison again. I just stuck my tongue out at her as she shot me a glare. Elena and Jenna continued to talk like I wasn't there about mom.

Mom wanted both of us to compete for the crown, only I said it was stupid and Elena jumped at the thought. I had a feeling mom always did prefer Elena over me, so did dad. But Aunt Jenna and Uncle John were on my side. Well, Jenna was up until mom and dad died in the car crash only Elena survived for some reason.

"I don't have cold feet, I just think I'd be enjoying it a lot more if she was here."

"I second that!" I called out. Mom would find some way to entertain me while Elena and Jenna were getting ready. Elena got up out of her make-up chair and said something about putting on her dress.

"Okay, whatever," I mumbled and excused myself out of the make-up room. I walked down the stairs out the door to find Anna talking to some adult. "So you're the girl my brother has been talking about?"

"And you're the sister he's been complaining about?" Anna replied with the same cheery tone.

"Nope, you're thinking of the other twin. He loves me," I corrected, still with a smile on my face. Anna laughed and excused herself from the man. "Are you two crazy kids in love?"

Anna answered with a sad expression, "I don't know, really."

"Oh, god, why the long face? Trouble in paradise?"

Anna took in a deep breath. "I just found out that he wasn't over someone."

_Jeremy, you stupid, stupid boy._

"Vicki, wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Speak of the devil," I said as I spotted someone I knew coming our way.

"Vicki?" Anna questioned, naïvely.

"Nope, the love ruiner," I whispered before greeting Jeremy, "Hi, Jerebear. How ya doing?"

"I have to talk to you," Jeremy murmured, taking my arm and pulling me away from Anna. I mouthed 'later?' and she nodded. Then with a smile and a wink, I turned to Jeremy.

"So, why'd you break her heart? I know you loved Vicki, but she's dead. Anna seems really nice," I scolded.

Jeremy ignored my question and interrogated, "Why didn't you tell me you were adopted?"

I froze in my spot. "You knew?"

"Elena told me…"

_That little bitch._

"We agreed that we'd tell you together…" My voice trailed off and Jeremy was about to say something, but he saw Anna and walked away from me. "She told him without me?" I whispered to myself again, sitting down this time.

_Why would she do that? She's not the only person she has to think about._

"Elena, you have seriously fucked up this time." I just sat there thinking of all the ways I'd confront her when the pageant actually started. I stood up to go to the front, but instead I found myself at the back.

"Ms. Tina Fell," Mayor Lockwood announced. She was one of the last ones. "Escorted by Bartholomew Whitmore." An applause followed the announcement as Tina walked down the stairs to _Barthol-whatever_ waiting for her.

"Ms. Caroline Forbes. And her escort Jeffery Lockwood Hamilton." Caroline walked down the stairs with a forced smile on her face right into the arms of Hamilton who should have been Matt, but the dumbass Grill wouldn't let him get off work. It was a goddamn pageant that everyone took seriously for God's sake. No one was going to be at the Grill.

"Ms. Elena Gilbert, escorted by Mr. Stefan Salvatore." I left after that. I just started walking the other direction of the ceremony and didn't look back.

_How could she do this? Why would she tell Jeremy without me? She wasn't the only fucking one with a brother to think about._

But then I stopped when I saw Stefan with Amber. Why was Stefan here? And why was Amber here with him especially? Stefan looked like he was freaking out by pacing and sighing every few seconds. I decided I'd just watch from a distance because I needed to see what was going on before interrupting. Was this dog cheating on my sister? So he abuses her and cheats on her? Someone's about to get fucked up…

"I don't hurt people. I don't do that. I'm the good brother," Stefan said out loud, but not really to Amber.

"Do you want to hurt me?" Amber questioned, looking utterly confused and curious. Stefan turned to face her with a smirk on his face.

"I want to kill you." I tried to hold in my gasp, and thankfully, I did. "I want to rip into your skin and I want to feed on your blood. Under your skin, pulsating, flowing." Stefan put his hands on her neck, staring at it.

_The fuck?_

"Your carotid artery, right there," Stefan pointed. Some shit's about to go down, I know it. "If you puncture this just right," he informed her, Amber staring at Stefan curiously, "you can control the blood flow. It takes practice, but it doesn't have to make a mess; you don't have to waste any."

_Stefan, don't do it! Don't become one of those freaks._

"What's stopping you?" Amber asked stupidly, in a trance-like state. Stefan chuckled and closed his eyes.

"If I do this, if I give in, there's no going back."

"Then don't," I think she whispered back.

"I just want one taste," Stefan pleaded. "That's all I need, I just want one taste."

"One taste?" Stefan went for the neck. Before he latched on with his teeth, he groaned.

_GASP! He's a vampire. He vants to suck vour blood._

_Not the time for jokes, Courtney._

"Stefan! Stop, please!" I called out, coming from behind the tree I was hiding behind. Stefan pulled from Amber's neck and zoomed over to me. It was all too fast for me to process when I saw his face right in front of me. His eyes were blackened, and veins were popping out under them.

_Like my dream…_

I almost wanted to touch his face. Run my fingers over the veins and study it. To be honest, it was fascinating.

"Stefan," I whispered, staring into those black orbs. Stefan's face almost softened when he realized I wasn't cowering away from him.

"Run Amber, I did you to be afraid and run," he instructed, not turning away from me. I heard Amber scream, and take off in the forest. "I need you to be afraid too."

"But I'm not," I told him.

"You should be," he pressed, looking more scared than me. "Don't you know what I am?"

"A vampire," I replied, almost in awe.

_What the fuck is wrong with you, girl?_

_I don't even know._

Stefan demanded harshly, "Then run."

"No."

He was gone the next second. It was like he disappeared into thin air.

_Super speed, dumbass._

"Oh," I mumbled to myself out loud. I realized where Stefan was going after a moment and took off in the woods after Amber and Stefan. I was too late when I found them. Stefan was feeding on her and I was standing there idly by screaming at Stefan to stop.

"Stefan, if you let go of her, you can drink some of me!"

That caused Stefan to look up from her neck. In less than a second, Stefan was in front of me and Amber was on the ground crying for help.

"Really?" He looked into my eyes. I nodded, almost eager. "Cheers." I felt two sharp pains after that. Let's just say, having a vampire drink from you isn't the best way to spend your Miss Mystic Falls day. My dream was bullshit. It didn't feel good, it hurt like hell. It was like two small knives digging into the side of your neck, drawing blood.

"Stefan!" I heard Elena yell.

_Thank you, lord!_

I let out a scream for Stefan to realize he could stop, but he was still latched onto my neck. We started to go down to the ground as he drank more because he knew time was running out to get _some_ of _this _and I was getting lightheaded from loss of blood.

"Stefan, get it under control. Control it," Damon called from behind Elena. I was gasping for air and holding my neck. Not that I was selfish, but I wished that I kept my mouth closed and let Stefan feed on Amber instead. That really hurt like a bitch.

Damon was so close to Stefan before he threw Damon on a tree and I let out another scream. Not because I was hurting, but for Damon.

"Stefan, stop it!" I screamed, trying to get through to him. "You can take another swing."

"No, don't you dare go towards her!" Elena yelled angrily as she rushed over to my aid. I finally noticed when Elena moved that Bonnie was there. _Please don't kill her, _I chanted over in my head while Elena asked me repeatedly if I was okay. I was about to snap at her that I was fucking fine when Stefan hunched over in pain. Elena looked over too to see Stefan almost to the ground holding his head and groaning. I was trying to find out if that was some kind of vampire thing when I realized Bonnie was doing it. She was staring at him intently, like she was focusing and in return, Stefan was feeling pain. And I could hear it. It was kind of an eerie sound that would annoy the hell out of someone if they heard it.

"Stop! Bonnie, stop it!" I pleaded, looking from Bonnie to Stefan. Damon looked at me with a curious look. After many pleads, Stefan's groans stopped and so did the pain (I could hear it, FYI).

Stefan looked around to everyone in fear. Elena was looking at him like he was a filthy animal and Bonnie was looking regretful, yet proud.

"It's okay," Damon murmured loud enough so I could hear. He put his hands out to Stefan like he was a dog he was trying to catch. Stefan's eyes were still darting around at everyone, but stopped at mine.

He shook his head like he was apologizing and I just gave him a supportive smile. That didn't help though. Stefan didn't stick around for me to tell him I forgave him.

"My baby sister, are you okay?" Elena cried as she was rocking me back and forth in her arms. Bonnie ran over to the girl, Amber, who was passed out on the ground. Elena kept whining and crying more than I was, and I was the one who got attacked.

"I'm fine," I mumbled.

When Damon took over Bonnie's place at Amber's side, she rushed over to me and asked me if I was okay like Elena. I answered I was fine again, but that didn't stop either of them. They just hugged me and cried in my hair and kissed my head. I looked at Damon for help to get them off, but he just winked.

"She needs to leave," Damon informed us.

"Wait, but Amber is hurt," Bonnie interjected.

"Not Amber, Courtney."

"You've already done enough," Bonnie snapped, hugging me protectively. "Both of you."

"I'm calling the police and I'm pretty sure that she doesn't want to get hounded with questions."

"She needs to go to the hospital," Bonnie pressed.

"I can heal her with my blood," Damon retorted.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Do I get a say in this?" I asked.

"No," all three of them answered.

"You're hurt. I don't want you worrying," Elena explained, resuming rocking me back and forth with her.

"Yes."

"No, Damon."

"Bonnie," Elena sighed. "He's right. I don't want Courtney to get hounded with questions. We'll just make up a story and leave Court out of it. Damon can heal her with his blood."

"And if she dies?" Bonnie inquired. My eyes widen at the thought.

Elena opened her mouth she didn't get to say what she wanted. "Then we'll have to deal with it," Damon answered for her.

"Fine," Bonnie growled. She turned to me. "How are you doing?"

"Well, other than my sister going behind my back, my friends lying to me and my neck hurting like fuck, I'm fine," I smiled. Bonnie smiled with me, but when she turned to Damon, her smile disappeared.

"I am holding you responsible if she turns into a vampire."

Damon ignored Bonnie and clapped his hands together. "Great. Well, I'm going to call Alaric to get you to the boarding house and I'll get the sheriff. Good with the plan? Amazing, break." Damon started walking up back to the house.

"No, Alaric is taking her back to my house," Elena argued. "Our house."

Damon sighed, "Elena, we need to get her back to my house."

"No, Damon~"

"Elena," I interrupted, annoyed by all their fighting. They weren't the ones in utter pain; when Amber woke up, she could relate with me. "It's fine. Call Alaric and tell him to take me to the boarding house." I started to get up and both Elena and Bonnie aided me. "Wait, my history teacher?"

"Yup."

"He knows about vampires?"

"Yup."

"Fuck my life…"

"Will someone please explain to me what the hell just happened? How do vampires exist?" I questioned as Damon paced back and forth.

"Hold on," Elena answered.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" I shrieked. Both Damon and Elena stopped to look at me. "It's obvious that you knew about vampires all along. What is happening? Why wasn't Stefan like that before?"

Damon looked at me before turning to Elena and saying, "She needs to know. It's happened."

"I know, but I don't want her to know about this just yet," Elena pleaded.

"She needs to know."

"Fine!" Elena threw her hands in the air. "Do it." Damon nodded and came closer to me.

"No, get away from me." I tried to push him away, but he looked into my eyes anyway.

"Remember," Damon muttered, pupils dilating. I shook my head at him and turned away. "Damn, vervain." Damon looked at my neck, when he saw nothing, he took both of my hands. When he saw the ring Uncle John gave me, he dragged it off my finger harshly and threw it to the other side of the room. "Now," he mumbled, again looking into my eyes, "Remember."

_It all came flooding back to me in seconds._

I turned to Elena with anger in my eyes.

"You self-serving, sadistic, vindictive, malicious little bitch."


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"What?" Elena asked, innocently scared.

"You knew all this time, and you didn't tell me. Katherine doesn't just look like you, she looks like me too. You aren't only the doppelganger, I am too. Sure, to Salvatore brothers are in love with you because you look like their past lover, but that gives you no right to keep this from me. Why would you do that anyway?"

My rant left Elena speechless. She just stood there in front of me, opening and closing her mouth. I stared at her with the worst kind of look you could ever receive. The look of disgust.

"I happen to be your sister, yet you still felt the need to keep me in the dark." I scoffed at Elena's behavior. "It wasn't your choice to make. It was mine and it always will be." Soon after, I turned to Damon. "And you, I thought you were my friend. I guess I was way off because friends would never do that to friends. They'd make sure their friend's twin sister didn't compel her sister to forget because that's what good friends do. What the hell, Damon? I really thought we were more, but I was off by a long shot."

"We are still friends, I just had to do that for Elena," Damon answered, looking guilty for the first time. Damon killed Vicki, yet he didn't look guilty about it before.

"You had to do that for Elena because only she matters?" I mocked. "Excuse me, I forgot. Elena is the only twin that matters to anyone. Thank you for making that totally clear to me. Turns out I was part of the drama all this time, but you compelled me to forget because she—" I pointed to Elena. "—told you to, didn't she? Damon, you killed Vicki." I held up one finger in the air. "I. Hate. You."

"Courtney, you need to listen to me," Elena tried to reason. I scoffed again. But instead of saying anything, I laughed. I laughed until there were tears and Elena and Damon were staring at me like I was crazy.

"You don't get it; you think you can fix this?" I raised my eyebrows. "You guys fucked up badly this time."

"Courtney, I—"

"Shut up or God so help me, I will drive a stake up your ass," I snapped, interrupting Damon. They both tried to apologize again, but I held up my hands. I shook my head and thought of what to do. Some may think I was overreacting, but I wasn't. I had been compelled by one of my friends because my twin told him to do so. That is fucked up. And to think, I was going to defend her through all of this. Elena took a step closer to try and hug me and that set me off.

"Fuck this," I muttered, but loud enough so they could both hear it. "FUCK THIS!"

I walked to the door and yanked it open just to slam it behind me. As I was walking my way to Stefan's red Buggy, I muttered cuss words at Elena and all vampires under my breath.

"They are bullshit."

"They should just fuck each other."

"Secrets really don't make friends, Damon. They actually cause you to loose them."

"Fuck you, Elena and I don't mean Stefan doing it."

"How could they?"

I jumped in the car and hotwired it. I know that Stefan would probably hunt me down and kill me for doing that to his car, but to be honest, I didn't care. They betrayed me when I counted on them. I trusted them with my life and my memory yet they decided to fuck up all their chances with me and keep me in the dark about the supernatural world. And when I found out about some of it, they erased my memory like Will Smith in Men In Black. I knew Elena was capable of a lot of things, I just never thought betrayal was one of them.

As I was driving to my house, I found myself crying. At the boarding house, I was mad, but now, I just feel empty again.

_Am I not trusted enough by Elena that she wouldn't tell me this?_

I was her sister… It didn't matter, because I didn't care. I was fine with being on the outs with my sister because I was leaving. If no one wanted to tell me anything, that was fine. I would just ignore all of their betrayal.

I pulled up to the driveway and left the car running. Jenna, Alaric and John were all talking in the kitchen when I walked in. All their heads turned to me, but I didn't say anything back to them. I just walked up the stairs with nothing to say.

"Courtney, where were you?" Jeremy called from behind me, but I ignored him. I just closed my door behind me and locked it.

_Let's hope this works._

I made sure that no one was listening in at my door before I took out my phone from the clutch that was lying on my bed and dialed a number I never thought I'd dial. It took a few rings, but she finally picked up.

"Finally," she greeted. "I was waiting for you to call. With your attitude, and your place, I thought you would have called sooner."

"Katherine, I'm leaving Mystic Falls. I'm done with everyone's bullshit and lies, so I'll just remove myself from the equation. They don't want to deal with me, so they don't have to," I told her, ignoring her greeting.

"And why are you telling me this?"

"I was thinking that you and I could do something together," I answered hesitantly, like a 13 year old girl asking out her crush.

"What time do you want me to pick you up?" I smiled at her reply. I had a feeling we'd get along, even though all the bad things she had done and how Stefan talked about her so badly.

"You're a vampire, so you can compel me some clothes, right?"

"Yes."

"And you can come to Mystic Falls without getting caught by the Salvatores?"

"Yes."

"Then pick me up at the old Fell church. Tomorrow; twelve o'clock."

"Sounds good to me," Katherine agreed.

"Oh and promise me one thing?"

"What?"

"You won't totally turn on me and suck me dry, right?"

"Right," she confirmed, sounding truthful. "I pinky promise." I froze at her words for a second. "Yes, that's right. I know all about you're pinky promise obsession, but don't worry, I'll keep it a secret."

"You better," I playfully threatened.

"Bye, Courtney."

"Goodbye, Katherine." I hung up the phone with a smile. That was it, I was leaving Virginia for a while and no one could stop me. I fell on my bed thinking of what we'd do and what would happen if she did turn on me to kill me. The thing was, I was also a doppelganger, like her, and I wasn't sure if she needed me for anything. Katherine sounded like the kind of person who would act her way into getting things she wanted.

After a few minutes, my phone started ringing in my hand.

_Bonnie calling._

"Hello?" I greeted with a boring tone.

"I am so sorry I didn't tell you," Bonnie apologized. Elena must have told her that I found out. It was typical that a _witch_ wouldn't want her identity to get out, but I was her best friend and I thought we had something else. Bonnie was counted as a sister in my book, but apparently, sisterhood meant nothing in this town.

"Bonnie, don't say anything," I warned, trying not to blow up.

Bonnie pushed on anyway, though. "I know that what I did was wrong, but Elena asked me to not tell you."

"Yes, because everything is _Elena's _decision. I was your friend, Bonnie," I snipped. "I was your best friend."

"Was?"

"Yes, Bonnie, you're smart. 'Was' as in the past. Our friendship is over because I can't trust you with anything. You won't tell me the important things about _my _life, so what's the point of being friends with someone who isn't worth your time?"

"Courtney, I am so sorry," Bonnie pleaded, anyway. "I never wanted this. I wanted to tell you the second I found out about vampires. I wanted to tell you about me being a witch, but Elena asked me not to. Who am I to go back on a friend's word to please another friend? I was in a tight situation." Dammit, she had me there.

"True, but when you realized that I was part of everything, you should have told Elena it was wrong to keep me in the dark."

"I know and for not doing that, I am truly sorry."

All of a sudden, my voice changed into a happy tone. "That's alright, Bon. We can still be friends; I forgive you."

"And I know it might take some— Wait, did you just say you forgave me?"

"Yeah, we can still be friends. You've realized the errors of your mistakes and you are trying to make up for them, that's totally fine. I'll see you tomorrow at school, I have to go now."

"No, no, no," Bonnie repeated. Hot damn, she caught me, maybe. "No, you do this. You act like you're okay, then you do something stupid and reckless. You act like you forgive everyone for their sins and inside you're hurting. I'm not going to let you do anything like kill yourself."

"Now Bonnie, why in the world would I do that?"

"Because your life is shit. Your first boyfriend died three weeks after you guys admitted you loved each other, your second boyfriend, Tyler, cheated on you with Vicki who eventually became your best friend for reasons I'll never know. Your parents died in a car crash and you found out that you and Elena are adopted and your mom doesn't want to meet you. Then, tonight, you find out that you've been lied to and compelled to forget everything about the supernatural world because Elena wanted to keep you out of the drama.

"Admit it, Courtney, you're hurt," Bonnie finished, sounding exasperated yet unhappy.

"Bons," I gritted through my teeth, mad at her for finding out my ways, again. "I am hurt, but I forgive. The first step to happiness is forgive and forget. Then it's bonding and then I'm happy in my life again." I tried to keep my tone happy at the end, but it came out more irritated. "Stop worrying and just be happy I'm forgiving you this early. Bye."

I hung up the phone before she could get another word in.

I guess that was the plan. Act like I was okay until tomorrow at two o'clock.

I stripped off the dress with blood on it and stepped into the shower. I decided I would just start singing like I usually did in the shower, while Elena claimed it was where she thought about her problems and life.

I was actually feeling bad for my sister, to be honest. Elena use to be an upbeat cheerleader with the perfect life and I was her sister, happy. We had a family that loved us; two parents that took care of us and a brother that loved us like no other. It was perfect, but it was true; the good things in life didn't last very long. It lasted for 17 year but when it fell apart, it fell apart badly. Vampires and witches came to my town to stir up trouble and cause most people pain. It was obvious we were all living on edge and on alert for anything else that would happen. Mystic Falls had its very own council for the paranormal activity and no one knew. I was annoyed. Why us? Why the quiet town of Mystic Falls? What did we ever do wrong, _fate?_ We acted perfectly and did everything right. I acted right.

When I finally got all the blood and dirt washed off my body, I stepped out the shower and wrapped myself in a towel. Before walking back into my room, I looked at my neck in the mirror. It was now cleaned of blood and you could see more clearly. The puncture holes were not small, in fact they were very visible, yet at the same time, you wouldn't really notice them unless you were studying my neck.

"Whatever," I mumbled waving off the subject.

I dressed in a blue tank top and black shorts before getting under my coves and falling asleep. Well, almost falling asleep.

"Courtney, I'm sorry," Elena's voice rang. "Can you open the door?"

I wasn't going to play nice with Elena. I was too damn mad for that. "Elena, fuck off."

"I'm sorry for what I did and how I did it, but I wanted to protect you."

"You just wanted one less person to worry about."

"That's not at all what I wanted," she denied, probably shaking her head and wiping away tears.

"Elena," I snipped. "I'm not dealing with this right now; we can talk in the morning."

"Are you going to be here in the morning?"

"What do you mean? I'm not crawling out the window."

"I mean, on this earth…"

"Commit suicide?" I asked surprised she'd ever bring that up. "For you? Hell no. Now, 'night."

Hesitantly, Elena wished me a goodnight. I heard her walk away, and I felt a moment of peace, then I heard her voice again.

"Courtney, I love you."

"Thanks."

_Mikael nodded his head at me when he saw me do the move right. We had been training night and day for this and I was ready; Mikael just didn't think so. I was ready to drive that white oak stake through Klaus's heart, even though I knew the consequences of it. I'd die. Yet, I felt happy and dedicated enough to do it._

_Mikael had taught me a lot of things in the short time we had. He had taught me how to be faster than older vampires, even Originals. I wasn't actually faster, just more agile and on my feet than them. It was pretty obvious that I was never going to be stronger, but I still knew how to fight. Mikael taught me how to listen in better and control my thirst for human blood, like Katherine did._

_But instead, he taught me how to drink from vampires. Blood sharing was…personal, but I had to do whatever I had to do to survive that didn't include drinking from humans. Mikael said I could drink from humans when I really needed to because they were our main food source. It was about time that I found a way to feed differently. With Katherine, I actually enjoyed feeding from humans and occasionally killing a few of them, but at night, it would all come to bite me in the ass. I would stay up sometimes, thinking of them and if they had a family or someone that loved them and how I ripped them away from their family. I was truly a monster._

_I got why Stefan tried to shield himself from all the human blood. It wasn't like killing animals was actually any better, but it was sure as hell nicer and more inconspicuous when an animal dropped dead. It was animals' ways of eating, feeding off each other. But humans just dropping dead from loss of blood, yet there wasn't a single drop at the crime scene? That was some crazy shit._

_I was grateful for what Mikael was teaching me and he knew that._

_"Make sure you show no mercy, they're animals," Mikael enforced. I nodded and kept my focus. "Niklaus will try to talk you out of killing him, but you must, alright?"_

_"I get it Mikael; I must kill Nikalus no matter what," I repeated back to him. " No matter what anyone says. He is a monster that needs to be put to rest before he gets too much power. I can't let anyone or anything get in the way of my mission. And you'll be there if I need back up."_

_"Good, but I have a feeling you won't need back up."_

_"Why?"_

_"All in good time, witchy._

_Mikael attacked me to make sure I was ready._

Then I woke up.

The sun was shining through my window which curtains were opened by someone. Groggily, I sat up in my bed, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. When my hand was removed from my vision of sight, I realized it was someone I'd never thought I'd see.

Vicki.

"Finally, you're awake," she rejoiced when she saw me staring at her, incredulously. _How the hell is she here? _I was confused as shit because Vicki was dead. They found her body, Damon turned her into a vampire and a stake was driven through her heart. How the hell was she there with me in my room?

"Is this a dream?"

"It should be, right," Vicki joked. I shook my head and her smile disappeared. "Okay, I don't think I have much time. I was watching you sleep, up there, on the other side and suddenly, I was, like, zapped into your room. I've been wondering how long I could be here. For now, it's been like, three hours."

"Am I on an episode of Ghost Whisperer?" I questioned her, even though I knew she wasn't real.

Vicki sighed and got closer to me. "I'm real, Court. You can feel me." Vicki sat down on my bed and I felt it go down like there was a body next to me. What really scared me was that she touched my face. And I felt it.

"Vicki, get away from me," I said, trying to back up.

"Why?"

"This isn't real," I tried to convince myself. "You're just dreaming, Courtney. There's no such thing as ghosts. This is not freaking Supernatural, although, if it is, if Dean could fall in love with me, that'd be nice."

"I'm here," Vicki confirmed. "I am here in you room and you can see me just as much as I can see you. I don't know how this is happening, but it just is." Vicki turned from confused to serious in seconds. "Now listen, don't trust anything Katherine says. I know you're planning on going with her, but you can't. She's screwed over so many of her so called 'friends' and that didn't end up well for them."

"Vicki," I shook my head, discounting her warnings. "I am so sorry for what happened to you." Vicki put on one of those Donovan smiles and looked me straight into the eyes.

"It wasn't your fault."

And then she was gone and Elena had appeared. She had been shaking me.

"Courtney, Courtney!" Elena screamed in my face. That time I heard it.

"What? What happened?" I inquired, muddled.

"I came in and you were looking at your window. Then you started talking out loud like someone was there and you wouldn't respond to me. I was getting worried," Elena explained. She really did look scared like something was happening to me and I kind of felt bad, but it disappeared when I remembered what she did to me.

"Are you going to compel me to forget so you don't have to worry about it?" I asked sounding innocent. Elena stared at me, then scoffed and rolled her eyes. "What? Are you mad that I'm not forgiving you right away this time?"

"I said I was sorry," Elena told me. "I explained why I did it. I was protecting you. Plus, you lie to me all the time."

"It was never this big though, Elena," I argued, getting up from my bed and pulling the covers up, so it looked kind of nice. "You say you did it to protect me, but wouldn't I have been safer if I did know? So I wouldn't just invite any stranger into our house? So I could start drinking vervain? Or help protect the innocent citizens of Mystic Falls?" Elena looked stumped and guilty. "Elena, your logic is fucked up! It doesn't make any sense and the only reason anyone if following your 'orders' is because they are so in love with you. I don't know why though, I'm the cool twin."

"Stop making jokes," Elena barked.

I growled back, "This is not a fucking joke. I am being serious with you right now. I am pissed off severely by you and you are on thin ice. You keep making it worse by saying you're sorry all the time. If you just leave me be, then I'll start the process of forgiving you. I love you, Elena, I really do, but bugger off." Elena opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it. "Now, you can start doing that by getting the hell out of my room and leaving me alone for the rest of the morning."

Elena nodded and walked towards the door.

"Wait," I called out to her. She turned back with a hopeful look on her face. "How's Stefan."

The hope literally burned up and was swapped by a depressing look. She said to me, with a sad tone, "He's fine. Just de-blooding." And with that, Elena was out my door and closed it behind her.

Once I heard her go to her room and close her door, I rushed over to my desk and started writing a note.

_Dear the assholes who lied to me,_

_I'm leaving because apparently, I'm too much of a pain. Don't worry; I'll be in good hands, maybe. I might be dead because she turns on me, but I might not. If you are reading this, that means I'm gone and you came to my room._

_Elena, _

_I love you with all my heart. You are my sister and that is never going to change, but I can't help but feel betrayed by your lies. I'm your sister and I thought we trusted each other with our lives. You just couldn't deal with another person to protect, could you? I don't want you to feel like the bad guy in all of this, but you deserve to feel a little pain. That's only half of what I feel. All my life, I've lived in your shadow. You were always the one mom and dad preferred and you know it. It was okay, because you were there to tell me goodnight, but now that we've gotten older, it's gotten worse. People always prefer your word over mine and even my friends would choose you. But that's not the thing I'm mad about the most. I'm mad that you told Jeremy without me. It wasn't your place. We are twins and he's not only not your brother (that sounded weird). We pinky promised —pinky promised! — that we would tell him together, but you decided to take matters into your own hands._

_Damon,_

_I thought we were friends. But that's okay that you hurt me. It's all about Elena and it always will be and I guess I accept that. You'll always pick Elena over me and anyone else, but that's because you're in love with her. Even if we're friends, you'll do what she says before you'll even consider my word. And for some odd reason, I forgive you. I'm not totally okay with what you did, but I know why you did it. When you love someone, you'll do anything for them._

_Bonnie,_

_I know I forgave Damon and all, but my heart won't forgive you. I thought you were on my side no matter what, but I guess I was mistaken. You're just like everyone else, picking Elena over me. To be honest, it wasn't much of a surprise that you wouldn't tell me about vampires because she said so, but I still don't get why you wouldn't tell me you were a witch. I thought we were best friends that told each other everything. You might think that it wasn't my business, but of course it was! I am, was, your best friend. We friends should tell each other important information like that. Bonnie, as grown up as this might sound, I'm disappointed in you. You might think I'm overreacting, but I'm not._

_Stefan (when he gets out from de-blooding),_

_I want you to know that you shouldn't beat yourself up for drinking from me. You are a vampire and that's your nature. I'm not going to tell you that vampirism is wrong because it's a way of life, just like living is for humans. We eat meat and you drink blood, it's as simple as that. Don't let anyone tell you you're wrong for killing innocent humans because no human is innocent. I don't really see what's the problem with drinking from humans. They kill and sin. So why can't you?_

_Although, I am still mad at you. You're supposed to be my friend, and you hid this from me. All the times I found out, you reported straight to Elena and that pisses me off. What the hell?_

_So, here I am, about to commit some major acts of 'drama queen.' Sorry if I'm worrying you, but don't try to find me. I'll be with someone you all hate. Anyway, maybe I'll come back to our little town and see how we're doing. But Damon, Stefan, don't kill everyone. I know I just said that being a vampire isn't bad, and it's not, but don't become so murderous, you just kill for the hell of it (I kind of have a feeling you already do that, Damon)._

_Adios, and good lying to you all._

_Courtney Gilbert._

_P.S. She looks like she could be our triplet, except on the prettier side, like me._

"Bonnie, I really don't want to hear it," I told her when she opened her mouth to talk. When she closed it, it was in a frown. "Hey, don't give me that 'I'm judging you' look. I should be giving you that look."

"Funny, Damon said that too."

"What?"

"Nothing," Bonnie answered, and then with pleading eyes, she continued, "Hey, can we do something for lunch? Like go to the Grill and ditch school for the rest of the day? Then we can have a movie marathon and crap?"

"No," I rejected, moving forward to my locker. Bonnie followed alongside me.

"Or we could—"

"Bonnie, not in the mood. I want to get my things, go to class and just get through the day. Then I want to do the same thing tomorrow and the day after that. And if you'd just give me some space, that'd be amazing. So take a hint and back off." When I said that, she stopped with a miserable look on her face and turned away. _Yeah, that's right, feel bad for lying to me._

I found some more vervain in Uncle John's room this morning and ate it bare. Vervain was a very beautiful plant, but tasted horrible. It tasted like something not even words could describe. But the only thing that mattered was that I was vervain filled. No vampire could compel me or could drink from me. Well, they could, but they'd hate it.

I got to my locker and actually unlocked it this time. Sometimes, I'd just stand at my locker and wait for Caroline, Matt or Tyler to come talk to me about something, or I wouldn't even have time to go to my locker because I was late to class. Let's just say that I wasn't the best at school and I wasn't the best student.

When I closed my locker, I saw Caroline walking up to me with a determined look on her face.

"Why are you being a bitch to Bonnie?"

"She told you, didn't she?"

"Answer the question."

I replied simply as I walked to Maths. "She lied to me. She straight up lied to my face, didn't tell me a very important secret of hers and then she thought that saying sorry was going to make up for it. So excuse me if I just don't want to talk to her right now." Caroline put her arm in front of me, making me stop.

"Courtney, she's your best friend."

"And she lied to me!" I screamed. "Why does everyone think that I'm the bad one in this? She's the one that lied to me. I didn't do anything wrong."

Caroline kept Bonnie's side. "Yeah, but she's your best friend. She has been ever since you guys met. It would be a shame that you guys wouldn't be friends in high school, when it's tough. I bet she's lied to you before, but you've forgiven her."

I rolled my eyes at Caroline. It seems that I was second best to everyone. "Screw it. Tell Bonnie I'm sorry and that we can be friends again. Happy?"

I walked around her arm and arrived at class early.

I opened my book and started doodling. It was innocent at first, I was just drawing frown-y faces and shit like that, but it became more as I drew longer. It was like I blacked out and when class had started, I realized what I drew.

On my paper was Stefan's face, but it had a name at the top that made me question it.

_Silas._

The class period passed by uneventfully. All I was focusing on was why I drew that and how I knew this Silas character. I wondered why I had drawn Stefan's face, yet had another name for him. Maybe Stefan wasn't who he said he was… But that wouldn't work because Damon was his brother. Or maybe, Stefan was a doppelganger. That was the only logical reason I could come up with. And it wasn't even that logical.

"Goodbye for today," Mr. Walker waved as we walked out the door to our next period. In a daze, I walked to Alaric's classroom and sat in the very front. Elena tried to sit next to me, but I moved to the next available seat in the front. I heard her sigh from three seats across.

"Alright, let's get this started."

It was about two hours when it finally hit lunch period. I quickly got up from Science and pushed my way through the crowd to Stefan's car that I stole again and drove to school. To be honest, I was surprised when I saw it still in our driveway, but with keys in the ignition. Damon must have come by and put them in there. Probably as an apology gift from Stefan or something.

I saw Elena running from behind me trying to catch up with Bonnie by her side. She had a note in her hand. With seeing this, I sped up my pace and finally got to the car. It was about time to get there. With the doors locked, I started the car and tried to pull out. Elena and Bonnie were yelling protests.

Luckily, when I backed up and pulled out, they weren't behind me so I was okay. Bonnie even started running after my car to try and stop me, but she stopped when she realized I wasn't stopping.

_They really are dedicated, aren't they?_

_Too bad they lied._

"I thought you'd never show." I whipped around to see Katherine standing there, with skinny jeans and a tube top. Huh, she never seemed like the Holister kind of girl.

"Nope, I was coming. I want to get out of this town as fast as I can," I replied, trying not to show my fear. It wasn't that I was scared of Katherine, but she just appeared out of nowhere and that can scare a person.

"So, you are coming? You can leave that car here. Someone will eventually find it." Katherine stared walking away, but stopped when she grasped that I wasn't following. "Are you coming?" I dropped my backpack and pulled out the drawing I did in the beginning of Maths.

"Do you know what this is?" I asked.

Katherine shrugged and crossed her arms. "You drew a picture of Stefan, so what?"

"But the name."

"So you drew a picture of Stefan and put the name _Silas _above it, so what?"

Katherine froze when she comprehended what she just said. "How do you know Silas?" she interrogated, suddenly in front of me. I tried not to show my surprise at her vampire speed and luckily, I made myself proud by not.

"I just drew it," I replied. "I was in Maths, just doodling and then it was like I blacked out and when I woke up from my 'daze,' this was on my paper with this name. I have no idea what it means or who it is. All I know is the drawing is Stefan's face, but not him."

Katherine looked away for a moment. "You see, I've heard of the name Silas. When he said it, he sounded scared. I don't know who this guy is or what he has over the world, all I know is that he's not someone to be fucking with. We'll find it out later, let's go," she demanded, waving off the subject. I didn't move for a moment, but eventually complied to her request.

I question from behind her, "So, why did you say yes?"

"Say yes to what?"

"To taking me with you. Why do you want me to come with you?" Katherine kept walking through the forest, like she knew where she was going. I wasn't sure where the hell we were because Fells' Church was far behind us. I didn't realize how long we were walking until I turned to look behind me.

"I know that you're a fun girl. I've been playing lone wolf for so long, I just want a friend."

"But you screw over your friends."

Katherine laughed. "Is that what the Salvatores told you?"

"Nope, that's what I gathered," I retorted.

"There's something different about you," Katherine commented, breaking the blanket of silence that clouded over us.

"Yeah," I scoffed. "I'm the cooler and prettier twin."

"No," Katherine denied, turning back to look at me. "I mean that you have this feeling to you, something I've never felt before. It doesn't feel right, yet it doesn't feel wrong at the same time."

"So basically what you're saying is, I'm so awesome, it's palpable?"

"You're funny."

"I know I am."

**Hello, I'm kathineismikaelson. Everyone is so nice on the comments and I just wanted to thank you. By the way, somewhere, there might be a place where it says meeting Katherine at two o'clock, but I couldn't find it to change it. I'm sorry if there is, author's mistake.**

**Guest- I know, I can't wait either! I feel like Klaus and Courtney might like each other a lot. They'll probably bond fast because Courtney always feels the need to see the good in people. She holds grudges, but she always sees the good in people, kind of like Elena but cooler. I hate what they're doing to her too. I don't like how they treat her or how they wave off her feelings for Elena. I don't know why I did that to be honest, they were supposed to love Courtney, but then I got the idea of her running away with Katherine and being totally dramatic. I don't know, I'm kind of sadistic like that.**

**Siensiusia- I know, I would be screaming at Elena like I was about to die. Courtney's reaction was little compared to mine. Elena really did deserve it. I think Elena had good intentions, she just executed them poorly. She really wants the best for Courtney and she tried. And as for the little reviews, I'm just starting out and I get that I have a small amount of reviews. But I'm getting there.**

**Chibichchibi98- I know, she does have kind of a potty mouth, but that's only because she's so honest. I kind of based that off of me, because I cuss all the time and I'm so blunt. Klaus and Courtney are going to get along great, although, their meeting might be a little awkward. I plan for their relationship to be a little friendly-flirting at first, but then Klaus realizes his true feelings for Courtney and they have some issues. But they are going to love each other. And I'm trying to decide if she and Kol would be good friends. Do you think they would?**

**Aiphira- Thank you! I just started writing this because they stories that I was reading were good, but they just weren't going the way I thought they would. Thanks for your comment!**

**Okay, I'll see you guys tomorrow with another update. And sorry if this isn't as long as the other chapter. Okay, byez!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Two weeks later…**

"Katerina Petrova! I swear to God, if you took my hundred dollar lipstick, I will kick your vampire ass."

"Riana Petrova, do not use that tone with me!" Katherine called from the bathroom on the second floor.

"What did you just call me?"

Katherine walked out of the bathroom and down the stairs with my lipstick. She handed it back to me and puckered her lips. "I just called you what I wanted to name my other daughter. After I was sent off to England, I thought I was going to go back to Bulgaria, human, but instead Klaus decided that he wanted to hunt me down and I turned. There was no way I could ever birth another daughter. And I wanted to name her Riana…along with her sister, Nadia."

I looked at Katherine with awe. Over the past weeks, we've been getting closer and we've both opened up about our lives. It was actually really strange, we had a lot in common. It wasn't like we both had in common that I was a vampire and I was on the run from some Original vampire that wanted to turn into a hybrid, but our personalities mixed. We were alike in some ways and different in others. That was the perfect way for friends to be born. And there we were, becoming more and more like friends. I knew that she was probably using me for something because that was what Katherine Pierce did, but I ignored it. I didn't want to think of being used or being lied to when I was around Katherine. It was like she treated me like a best friend, and I thought I was her best friend, considering that she most likely compelled her friends and then killed them in the end.

"That's nice," I replied, smiling at her. Katherine smiled back at me and we stared at each other. Usually, the name _Elena _would ring through my head when I saw someone that looked exactly like me, but the name _Katerina _did not fade or quiver at all as I was looking at Katherine. We looked almost exactly alike, but my hair was short and wavy, while hers was longer and curly.

Katherine finally broke the silence that was clouded over us. "Are we going to go or what?"

"Yes, let's go!" I agreed, grabbing my pale bag. I was wearing a white, laced top with lighter pants and nude pumps. Katherine put on a black and white shirt and black pants and a red and white shoe with a black bow at the heels. Basically, we looked amazing with a capitol _AMAZING._

When I opened the door with a smile on my face, there was a package waiting for me. It had no card or stamp saying it was to be delivered; yet, it was still there at the doorstep. I looked at Katherine with a quizzical look, but she just shrugged and said nothing. Instead of doing the logical thing, I shrugged too and stepped over it. For some reason, I didn't want to open the package. Whether it was because I was afraid it was from one of my friends back home. I ignored all their calls, any letters they somehow found a way to get to me and any contact at all. I even changed my number. I felt like a big bitch. And for that, I didn't want to see any note or letter saying that I was a horrible person and that I shouldn't've ditched my family and left my friends, even if I had a good reason to be mad at them. Jenna didn't know, Jeremy didn't know, of course, they hadn't even found out then.

"What the hell are you doing?" Katherine called from behind me in an instant after I stepped over the package.

"I'm leaving it there," I replied, not even looking back.

"No," Katherine denied. "You are going to pick this up and you are going to open it. I may be kind of a bitch and don't understand why people love each other when you have yourself, but I'm starting to think that you need to go back to your family. Maybe not go back, but at least talk to them. They fucked you over and that is a giant wrong, but you need to start to forgive."

I snapped around to Katherine with a smirk on my face, mind you, I was still mad. "Hypocrite! You didn't talk to your family. They sent you away and you didn't even put up a fight. Anyway, you were the one who even said that I could go with you. If you thought I was better off with my family, then you shouldn't've taken me with you, not that I'm complaining. If you wanted me to talk to them, you would have brought this up earlier, but you didn't, so bugger off."

Katherine shifted her weight to one leg, hand on her hip and scoffed, "Just open the goddamn package."

"Fine."

I walked back over to Katherine and the package and picked it up. Katherine followed me to the couch where I sat down to open box. It was actually kind of small for a package anyway. It was just a bit bigger than an iPhone.

_Please don't be a _don't come back _package with the letter saying that they don't even need me._ I thought to myself as I started to unwrap the box. Katherine said nothing, and tried to look uninterested, but I knew she was just as intrigued as I was. Under the paper was a box, shaped like the ones you find at a jewelry store and taped to the top was a note.

_Dear Courtney/Best Friend,_

_Come back. __We miss you.__ I miss you. I want my best friend back, my drinking buddy even though I shouldn't be offering you alcohol. I'm sorry I lied to you, we lied to you. Come back, bestie._

_Damon_

I was touched. It wasn't like Damon to write something like that. It wasn't like him to let his feelings out. I knew he would keep them in and then let them out on some innocent girl who he was going to drink. This was different from the usual Damon and I knew if he would take the time and grow the balls to let his feelings out to me, then he really meant what he said. It wasn't because Elena told him to, because he _wanted _and _needed _me to come back.

"Oh, how sweet, he wrote you a note," Katherine cooed sarcastically. Her voice returned to normal after she removed her hand from her heart. "Anyway, let's get to the present so we can get out of here and go meet up with him."

I rolled my eyes at her, but followed her request. I opened the box that was blue, my favorite color, or at least was before I discovered the many shades of red (I could thank Katherine for that). With the lid removed, I saw a black raven with it wings flapping on a chain in front of me. An 'O' shape formed on my face and my eyes widen. My favorite kind of bird.

_He remembered._

"Ooh, lookie, it's a birdy. Now, can we go?"

"He got this for me?" I questioned out loud, ignoring Katherine's comment.

"Is that rhetorical? Obviously he did."

"Can you put it on me?"

"What, do I look like your boyfriend?"

"NO, but you are my friend, so could you just stop with the attitude and be happy that I'm happy and just snap the necklace behind my fucking neck?" I snapped with a frown. Katherine's nasty attitude disappeared and she looked regretful. My attitude disappeared too and I had looked at Katherine with confusion. She just didn't seem like the regretful type.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, getting up from the seat across from me and picking up the necklace. Slowly, I got up, with a muddled expression on my face, and lifted my hair above my neck. I heard, yes, heard, Katherine smile as she clicked the necklace into place and put her hands on my shoulders to spin me around. Her smile grew bigger. "There, now you're beautiful now that it's completed your outfit."

"Katherine, thank you."

"Okay, well, let's go."

The soft Katherine act vanished that quickly.

"Okay," I said softly and grabbed my bag from the couch. I turned back to the note next to the box Damon wrote. Without a second thought, I plucked it from the table and slipped it into my pocket and followed behind Katherine. That was nice of him, to do that really.

"So, who is this guy again?" I asked.

"He is the man that will find me what I want."

"What do you want?"

"I want a stone," Katherine replied simply like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Realization it me like a bitch with a brick. "The moonstone?"

"Bingo!"

"And this man is?" I questioned as I got in the car.

Katherine had a dramatic pause and turned to me with a giddy smile on her face. "Mason Lockwood."

"This is not a good idea," I complained again as we were waiting at the booth. "He knows me and he's going to wonder what the hell is up."

"How does he know you again?" Katherine asked, bored.

"I dated his nephew."

"Oh, yeah, I guess that might be a problem," she considered. I smiled in victory, but it didn't last very long. "I guess that's just too bad because he's here."

My head snapped to the door to see Mason walking in. He was smiling up until he saw me.

"Courtney?"

"Hey, Mason."

**Hey, sorry guys, this update is shit and it took so long, but I promise to have a longer one tomorrow. I know this is a total let down, but I got caught up in life. Alright, I might even post the new update tonight, but I need to just sort out some things. Sorry 'bout that.**

**katherineismikaelson**

**P.S. Are you guys confused?**


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

"Okay, so why should I give you this again?" Mason asked after Katherine and I explained everything about the plan. Mason was a little hesitant to listen to Katherine at first when he saw me, the thought of _why the hell is Courtney here? _probably ran through his mind a couple times and is probably still doing the same.

"I'll tell you, just come with me," she said seductively. I knew what was going to happen next. When Katherine and Mason were walking out the door to her car, she turned back to wink at me. I just nodded and ordered the check. My phone started to ring in my pocket.

"Hello?" I answered.

"You still there?" A voice asked me.

"Yes."

"Good, I'm coming."

The man hung up the phone just like I expected him to do.

_Good, he's here._

"Here you go ma'am," the waitress said, politely putting the bill on the table. I smiled at her and took out my wallet.

When I was all done paying, I left a tip of three dollars and was out of that diner in a blink. I looked around the parking lot for a while before I saw the man waiting in the car he said he would wait in. Before I started walking in the direction of the black car with tinted windows, I checked around to make sure no one would see me or recognize me. Luckily, I had my shades on and I was looking badass.

When I got in the car, I saw the familiar face of Antonio Gutierrez in the car. He was my private investigator that also happened to be a werewolf. I wasn't paying him with money; it was more with the Katherine payment. I had learned a few things from her like use people to get what you want. I most definitely didn't like it, but I had to do what I had to do. I made sure it didn't go too far, Katherine was many things that I wanted to be; independent, prosperous, ambitious, but being a bitch was not one of them.

"Hey, I got the information," Antonio said to me. He was Mexican. With his brown eyes, tan skin and a very attractive accent. Antonio leaned into kiss me on the cheek, but to butter him up, I kissed him on the lips quickly. A smile bloomed on his face as he told me, "Silas was a witch. He was cast in the Immortality Spell and is now locked up somewhere with a cure for vampirism. He was locked and cast on by his fiancé, Qetsiyah after he was caught cheating on her with his other lover, Amara."

"Thank you," I told him with a smirk. This was good; I finally got some information on the man I drew that looked like Stefan. It had been bugging me for a while and now I had finally got what I needed.

"Yeah, babe."

We kissed for a minute before I broke the kiss with a fake bliss expression on my face. "How about Damon?"

Antonio gave an angry, sweet smile and scoffed, looking down. "He was…difficult. They were all difficult, but I can tell you they are okay. They all miss you, I can tell you that. At the Mystic Grill, they talk about you and wonder when you're coming back. As weird as it sounds, and believe me, it's crazy, but it's not your family that misses you the most, it's the Salvatores. I can tell by Damon sitting at the bar sometimes, he misses his drinking buddy, even though you're not supposed to and Stefan just misses you generally. I'm not saying you should go back, but, you should say something to them, contact them," he suggested. I gave him a look, trying to keep a straight face, but a smile starts to break out. Antonio put his hands up in surrender playfully. I giggled. "Okay, I'm sorry. Forget I ever said anything."

"If I leave, then I might not see you."

"And we can't have that, can we?"

"Exactly."

I leant in to kiss him when someone tapped on the window. I turned around to see a girl, about my age, just a bit older, with brown hair and shades. She almost looks giddy with joy, but embarrassed at the same time.

"Who is that?" I questioned, bewildered.

"What are you talking about?" Antonio asked.

"I mean the girl standing right outside the window," I answered back, looking back at the girl waving to us. Antonio looked out the window and shook his head. _What the hell?_

"I don't see anything."

I was going crazy. I shook off the girl and returned to kissing Antonio. It wasn't that I didn't like Antonio, but he was a little straight forward. I wasn't really interested into getting it on with someone and kissing them when I barely even knew them. As much as I hated to admit it, I was just using Antonio. I was a little whore and a bitch like Katherine. Like really great grandmother like really great granddaughter.

"Okay," I finally said after staring into his eyes. "I have to go now, but I'll see you later, right?"

"Yes," he confirmed. Little did he know, I didn't plan on ever seeing him again.

"Alright, bye!" I gave him a quick peck on the lips before sliding my shades on again and opening the door to get out the car. Once I was on the sidewalk, Antonio pulled out. Without another thought, I started walking the way we came from the apartment.

_Damon and Stefan miss me more than Elena? Well that was obvious, _I thought to myself as I walked. _But what about Bonnie? Is she mad at me for walking away? No, she doesn't get to be mad in all of this. She choose to be on Elena's side and not respect my trust. She brought all the cold shoulder and leaving on herself. I guess I don't care that she didn't tell me about vampires, but her being a witch? Best friends really need to know that._

"Did you miss me?" A voice chirped next to me. I jumped slightly and turned to the brown haired girl again.

"What. The. Fuck?"

"It's funny, you were kissing my ex-boyfriend back there," the girl told me, ignoring my demand.

"So? That doesn't explain why he couldn't see you."

"Because I'm dead," she answers. I stop dead in my tracks and look at her. She had brown, caramel hair and tan skin to go with it. She had beautiful brown eyes that were almost black, yet still a chocolate color. The girl was just a bit taller than me. She looked my age, yet older, like she was an older woman that looked like she should just be graduating out of high school. "My name is Cassandra by the way."

"What the actual fuck?"

"Apparently, you can see the dead, isn't that obvious?"

"Yeah, I got that, but I saw someone I knew that was from the dead. My friend Vicki. She said she came because she thought of me and I was thinking of her. What is going on?"

"Honey," Cassandra started, "It doesn't matter if you're thinking of them. We can come see you, you can't really beckon us. Now tell me, how does he kiss nowadays? I haven't seen him that happy since we were together. Then we broke up when he realized I was a vampire."

My expression was even more confused.

"I was killed by Klaus," she explained.

"Oh, seems like he kills every vampire now," I mumbled. "And about Antonio, he's a…a good kisser… Yeah, he kisses…well…"

"You plan to never see him again, don't you?"

"Yeah," I confessed, looking down at my feet and ashamed.

"I should have known," Cassandra scoffed. "You hang with Katherine, of course you're just going to use men for your own personal gain."

"No," I denied quickly, maybe a little too quick. "I just really don't think we're working out…"

"Liar," Cassandra accused, "you are lying to me just like you lied to him. I thought you would be better, nicer since you are Elena's twin sister."

"Can everyone stop comparing me to my sister?" I demanded, offended by all their comparisons. "I get it, Elena is the perfect child, the perfect sister, perfect sister and perfect person. But I'm here too, so just deal with the fact that I'm not her."

"Ooh," Cassandra hummed. "She's got some fire in her."

"This fire will burn."

"I bet it will. You know what? I'm going to be friends with you and we can do everything. Now, you can't talk to me when you're around Katherine, but we can talk when we're alone or we can write. Yup, I can pick up things. So, now that you've earned my friendship, you can call me Cassie and I can now call you Court instead of Courtney. Or would you prefer I called you Nee?"

"Whoa, whoa, who said we were friends?"

"I just did…"

"Well, I can't be friends with a ghost. That's just sad." I tried to walk faster than Cassandra, but she used her ghost powers or something to catch up to me or something. "Go away."

"Hey," she scolded. "That is no way to talk to a friend. Now, Court or Nee?"

"Neither, I don't want to be friend with you or any other ghost for that matter," I told her again. I saw the building Katherine and I were staying in and quickened my pace even more. I would think it looked like I was running from something or someone but trying to be discreet.

"Too bad, you're stuck with me. I can leave whenever I want and you can't tell me when."

I just kept walking and stopped talking to her. She tried talking to me as I walked through the door and up the stairway right to my door. I dug through my purse for the key while she was yelling at me to talk to her. Once I got on the couch and turned on the TV, I got fed up with all of her ranting.

I demanded, "Shut the fuck up."

"Excuse me?"

"I don't want you here. I'm sorry that Klaus killed you and I'm sorry that you're here, but seriously, shut the fuck up or go the hell away. I'm trying to watch Teen Wolf and if you won't shut up, I am seriously going to discover a way to kill a ghost…_again. _I repeat, PLEASE be quiet or get you," I begged, almost on my knees.

"No, I'm done. Lucky for you, I'm leaving. I can't believe the negativity in this room."

And with that, she was gone. Out of my sight and out of my mind. Better yet, I didn't have an annoying voice talking off my ear while I was trying to watch Scott and Stiles be the sexy beasts they are.

It had been a little when Katherine finally got back from her time with Mason. I was lounging on the couch, still watching Teen Wolf because I had to catch up on the latest season and painting my nails. I didn't even want to imagine the things she was doing with Mason. I was just glad that I didn't have to be there to 'talk' with them. Katherine didn't know I was still digging into the little problem we had called Silas and I didn't want her to know for whatever reason my brain would come up with at the time.

"Finally, you're here!" I rejoiced as I saw her walk through the door.

"Yes, I'm here and I'm amazed by how good he is in bed," Katherine told me, sitting across from me.

"NO!" I groaned. "I do not need to know the nitty gritty details of your time with Mason."

"Why not? Doesn't family tell other family about the time they've had?"

"No and I've known Mason for a while. I called him Uncle Mason a lot when Tyler, his nephew, and I were dating. I really do not need to know anything about your time with him," I answered. Katherine scoffed, but continued.

"Okay, all I'll say is that he's amazing in bed, so amazing. I wasn't expecting that from a mutt."

"Shut up, he's not a mutt," I growled getting defensive. If Mason was a werewolf, Tyler was probably one too. I only hoped that he wouldn't trigger the curse of being a werewolf…ever. I didn't expect him to anyway. He definitely had some anger issues, but he wouldn't kill anyone, right?

"He's helping us and he's a werewolf, if that doesn't scream 'MUTT' then I don't know what does. Anyway, he's helping us and he's going to go to Mystic Falls as soon as he realizes what's going on in his life. He's going to get me that moonstone and we're going to be happy. And, honey, I'm going to be going back to Mystic Falls, okay? But first I'm going to be teaching you how to be a vampire."

A smile bloomed on my face when I heard those words. "You're finally turning me?"

Katherine shrugged. "I put some thought to it and I realized that I needed to have a vampire on my side, not just some witches and some werewolves, plus you're family, you deserve it." I jumped up from my position and rushed over to hug Katherine. I threw my arms around her, ignoring my wet nails.

"Kat, thank you, thank you!"

"Anything for you, Riana," Katherine giggled.

"So, are we doing it now?" I questioned, excited. It wasn't like I wanted to drink from humans and kill them, but I felt that if I was a vampire, I would be closer to Katherine. I knew it sounded fucked up and superficial, but I really had a feeling that I would somewhat make Katherine proud and she'd really except me. I could tell she was hesitant about me; deciding whether I was worth keeping around or just a walking blood bank.

"Yes, we are," Katherine replied. Suddenly, behind her was Cassandra.

"You're doing what?" 'Cassie demanded.

"I'm turning into a vampire," I snapped back at her. While Kat gave me a confused look, Cassie gave me an angry look.

"Who are you talking to?"

"No, you're not, I'm not letting her." Cassie crossed her arms.

"No one, I just have to run to the bathroom quick." I pointed behind me and then turned to sprint to the restroom. Cassie followed behind me. "You can't stop me, you're a ghost."

"Oh really?" Cassie challenged. Then she slapped me. "I'm pretty sure you felt that." I was holding my burning cheek as I looked at her. Bitch had a bigass smirk on her face and a satisfied look on her face.

"I'mma—"

"You're going to what?"

"I'mma go out there and I'm going to become a vampire. Then I'm going to snap your dead neck and watch as you fall to the floor and seep into the ground to hell." I gave her a bigass smile in return and stepped around her out the bathroom. Katherine was sitting there, looking bored waiting for me.

"Finally, what were you doing in there? And I heard skin hitting skin. Did you slap yourself?"

"Yeah, now let's get this show on the road," I demanded, looking right at Cassie.

"Someone's eager," Kat mumbled standing up from her spot and making her way to me. "Don't take it personal that I have to kill you." She bit her wrist and held it up to my face. As I drank from her vein, I stared straight at Cassie, who had a scowl on her face and her arms crossed. Kat's blood wasn't the best, I could tell you that. When Damon or Stefan had to feed me their blood to heal me for whatever reason, I actually enjoyed it a little. It tasted sour and sweet at the same time. It still had the taste of blood, the taste of copper, but there was a tint to it that made you want just a bit more each time you took a gulp. Katherine's was completely different. Hers was completely coppery and revolting like blood should've tasted like. Maybe it was because she had been a vampire for so long, or that she was really bitter.

Once I was done feeding from my friend, I wiped my mouth. Before I knew what was happening, Kat had her hands up to the sides of my head.

"NO!"

_Snap._

"Wakey, wakey," someone cooed next to me. I woke up to see a man, Zac Efron look-alike, and Katherine staring at me. I was lying on the couch under a blanket and next to the coffee table. The first thing I noticed about Zac Efron's look-alike was his bleeding neck. It was like he was completely oblivious to what it was doing; gushing blood. And I wanted to dig right into him.

"Wow, I didn't think you would wake up this quick. For most, they take a few hours, you only took thirty minutes," Kat commented, patting the boy's hair. "I was hoping to have some fun. Anyway, this is Harry," she introduced, motioning to Zac's doppelganger. "He's going to be at your service for the night. I know you wake up hungry, so I was the nice grandmother, I'll never get used to that, and I got you some food. If you need me, I'll be in the room with his friend Luke." Kat got up from next to Luke, kissed him on the head, and walked into her room with a bounce to her step. _She's had blood._

"Are you going to drink?" Harry asked me. My eyes widen at his words. "It's okay, I know Katherine's a vampire. Sometimes I will come over to part with Kat."

"And you're not scared?"

"She told me not to be," Harry shrugged. I forgot, compulsion! That is a major upgrade from being a human.

"Okay, then I guess I'll take a sip or something." I sat to face Harry and he scooted closer to me. At first, I was hesitant to dig into him. This wasn't at all what I expected. I thought I would be blood crazy and shit but I wasn't. I was completely fine watching the blood roll down his neck like I was when I was human. The only difference was a pain in my gums and the heat beneath my eyes. As I leaned forward, I felt something slip through my gums and that set me off. Before I knew what was happening, I was at Harry's neck sucking his blood.

Blood was nothing I had ever tasted before. It was like chocolate rolling down my throat and all over my tastebuds. It was like drinking heaven and tasting a bit of gold. Blood had this taste that I never knew existed. It drew you in. The blood was like having an addiction. I was drinking and drinking and I knew I probably shouldn't have been drinking so much, but it was like I couldn't stop. I wanted more every time I told myself to pull away. My brain was yelling at me to stop but I ignored it and kept drinking like it was my birthday and there was only booze to drink.

"Courtney," Harry breathed.

Finally, with that, I pulled away and looked at him. Harry didn't look like he was in pain, he looked like he was enjoying it. Without saying anything, Harry's lips were on my and his hands were on my waist. Without thinking, I was kissing him back and found myself on his lap. We were passionately kissing, tongues battling for dominance. I felt more blissful than I had ever felt before. My emotions were heightened.

Harry started kissing down my neck and I made no effort to hold in my sighs. After a few kisses, I forced his lips back up to mine with my hands roughly. My hands rolled down his bare chest and stomach and played with the buckle of his pants. Harry lifted the shirt off of me and lied me down so he could kiss my belly. Harry stopped at my pants and looked up to me like he was asking for permission. I granted by nodded my head slightly. I felt him start to slide down my boy shorts, but suddenly the annoying ring tone to my phone started to play. Almost at the same time, we both groaned.

Goddamn, we were really getting into it.

I got up from the couch and made my way to my purse to dig for my phone. "One sec, babe," I said to Harry. He nodded and laid his head back, breathing heavily. I answered.

"Did you get my package?" a familiar voice demanded. _Damon._

"Yes, I did. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go," I told him rudely.

"Come home, Courtney. Elena misses you, Bonnie misses you, Jenna misses you, Caroline misses you, Matt misses you, Jeremy misses you, John misses you," Damon listed off sounding sincere. "Tyler misses you, hell, I even miss you."

"Damon," I firmly said. "I am having fun and you need to leave me the hell alone. I'll come back when I want to."

With that, I hung up the phone and crushed it in my hands. I really didn't want to get interrupted again with Harry.

"You done?"

"Yes, now let's have some fun." I made my way over to Harry so we could finish what we started. Kids, you can't hear this part because you're too young. So let's just skip until the morning.

In the morning, I woke up in Harry's sleeping arms with covers sprinkled with blood all over them. At first, I thought that Harry was dead. I was absolutely terrified that I had killed him while we were…having fun, but then I realized he was breathing and I calmed down. Quickly (thanks to my new vampire speed) and quietly (also thanks to my vampire agility), I slipped out of his arms successfully without waking the poor boy up. I searched around for my bra and eventually found it in the lamp shade, but I simply couldn't find my underwear like in the clichés, so I just slipped on Harry's shirt.

Instead of waking him up or waiting for him to wake up, I walked away into the other room, my room. I had guessed that Kat was still in there with her boy, Luke, so I had some time to myself.

"Vicki," I called from my bed. I was ready to tell her everything that had happened. "Vicks." She still didn't reply to my calls. Huh, maybe she was on the other side doing something like talking to Matt or trying to communicate with him. I would have to try later to catch her.

So I just started to draw and draw. I was thinking and sketching at the same time in my notebook. I was thinking of what they were feeling back home. Did they really miss me that much? If they did, would they apologize and actually mean it this time? Would they apologize to me, feeling like they really didn't want to lose me in their life? Because I really wanted that. I wanted everything that Elena had. I wanted the love our parents gave her and I wanted the love our friends gave her. She had everything and she didn't even notice it. She had the perfect grades, perfect friends, top of the school and the perfect boyfriend. I don't know how she got it all, but she was the lucky twin. I was just known as the girl who was siblings with the popular girl. I was like Jeremy; in the shadows of our older sister.

When I actually opened my eyes to see what I had drawn, I saw Cassie's face. She wasn't smiling either, but there was some kind of light in her eyes. Once again, my eyes ventured up to the top of the page and there was a name beautifully written across the page.

_Qetsiyah._

Why was I drawing pictures of Silas's fiancé?

"Courtney, you in there?" Harry's voice rang from outside the door. I jumped a bit on the bed and scrambled to hide the notebook under the bed. The little bastard actually snuck up on me, a vampire.

"Yeah, I am, come in," I invited, trying to play it cool. Harry's brown haired head poked in. He had an exultant smile on his face as he made his way over to me. His hands grabbed hold of my hands and pulled me standing up with him. Harry was in nothing but his boxers like I was in nothing but his shirt. "I liked last night," he mumbled into my neck as he kissed it.

"I did too," I giggled, sighing at the thought of what happened. It was amazing. I wasn't a virgin, I could thank Tyler for that, but it was my first time as a vampire. Harry told me, in the middle of it, that I was actually pretty good at what we were doing. I replied "Of course, I'm Courtney Gilbert."

"We should do it again sometime," Harry suggested, looking into my eyes.

"If I can get another shot?" Harry winked at me and lifted his wrist to my lips. I smiled and bit into his hand. Harry didn't even wince when he was being drunk from by a vampire. He just stared at me and used his other hand to tuck a piece of my hair behind my head. With a sly smile, Harry's lips leaned forward to my ears.

"I'm a vampire too," he whispered slowly. I instantly stopped drinking from him and latched my lips off his wrist. I opened my mouth to say something, but Harry shushed me quickly. "No, no, don't talk. I know you think something is wrong, but nothing is. You can drink from other vampires and other vampires can drink you…"

"Yeah, but I have to feed from a _human _to complete my transition," I argued, starting to get panicked. _Oh, god, I didn't already feed from a human? How am I not dead? How long does this last before I die?_

"That's why I got you breakfast," Harry told me, slowly walking out of my arms. "Jalyah!" Harry pulled a woman from out the hallway into my room. She was short, looked a little younger than me with youthful green eyes, blonde long hair and pink, thin lips. She was beautiful, and she was also going to die.

"Are you sure she's human?"

"She has a heartbeat, now," Harry pushed Jalyah forward into my arms. "Drink."

I decided I wouldn't waste any time waiting to talk to Jalyah and apologize to her before digging in. Her blood was just as good as Harry's last night. Sweet and addictive. I couldn't help but bite harder down on her neck as I got more of the blood.

Then Harry joined me on the other side of her neck. We were going to kill the poor girl.

"Oh, so, they're having a blood party without us," I heard Katherine's voice say, along with two footsteps and one heartbeat. "Poo, Luke, what are we going to do about that?"

"If you can't stop 'em, join 'em," I listened as a low male voice replied to Katherine. I took this time to stop feeding from Jalyah and look at Katherine.

"It's sooooo good," I moaned, swaying around. Katherine only smiled and took Luke's wrist to her mouth.

Before she bit into his wrist, she mumbled back to me, "I know." Harry and I went back to feeding on Jalyah while Katherine had a ball feeding on Luke. From what I could catch of Luke, he was a tan, and tall boy with longer sandy hair and had ripped arms. Katherine had gotten us hot dates for my celebration of life. Ah, that was amazing.

While we were having major fun, Elena, Damon and Stefan were not.

ELENA'S POV (kids, I'm just guessing)

Stefan and Damon kept trying to decipher what Courtney said on the phone, but I already knew what she meant. She was having more fun with Katherine than she ever did here. She was out shopping, drinking booze, having boys and playing with Katherine Petrova. I wasn't happy, I really wasn't. She was out doing something that could get her killed and we'd be the ones who would have to pay the price. I only hoped she doesn't make the choice of becoming a vampire (Courtney: too freaking late, 'Lena) because I don't know how John will react or how I will even react. Stefan and Damon didn't have a choice in becoming a vampire, they said it was horrible; having to feed on and kill innocent humans with no control over it. I just hoped that if she does turn, she'll be like Damon and not like Stefan, as bad as that sounded. I didn't want her to be a ripper, as Stefan said, and go on a killing spree and not be able to control it. I want her to be able to see blood and not want to drink it until it's all gone.

I wished things would have turned out differently. I wished I would have told her sooner about everything and I wished that I could have helped her through all the pain and danger. I didn't regret not telling her at first, it wasn't her business at first, but then when the truth about Katherine came up, I should have said something. I didn't know if I was trying to protect her or be selfish. My whole life, I had been trying to live up to her and her ways, but I always came short. It seemed as though everyone just listened to me because they had to, not because they wanted to. Then as we got older, I finally started comparing to Courtney, but then, she had the talent of playing guitar and singing. Everyone was so interested in listening to her songs, yet she never shared them with me. Only Vicki and Caroline. My life was nothing compared to Courtney's. She was so cool, collected, loved. I wanted that so bad. I wanted to be loved like Courtney was.

Maybe I was being selfish, though. Maybe I should have told her from the beginning because I was her sister and I was dating a vampire. I was so mysterious too. I told her to stay away from Damon, as I saw that they were getting closer as friends, but I never told her why and that's why she didn't listen. Then we argued about him, got in a big fight and didn't even talk for a while. I felt guilty, yet I didn't regret it. I should have, but I didn't.

"Damon," I interjected. "Could you get someone to check on her or something?" I asked. Damon and Stefan looked back at me with confused looks on their faces. "Like, could you…could you…?"

"Compel someone?" Stefan offered. I nodded my head and quickly turned away from their eyes. I had always been on top of Damon's case for compelling someone to do something or feel a certain way and there I was, Elena Gilbert, asking Damon Salvatore to compel someone to check on my sister.

"I mean, I could, but I wouldn't know where to find her. She could be anywhere with Katherine."

"How did you find her phone number?"

"I compelled someone to find it, but that doesn't mean I actually found her," Damon told me, looking a little unhappy himself. As much as I hated to admit it, but Damon and Courtney were pretty close. Courtney and Damon would drink together, talk with each other, she even let him drink from her once. Their friendship was strong and I hated it. I wasn't really sure if it was because I thought he'd hurt her of if I was…jealous. Courtney even got along with Stefan great. She and Stefan were so open with each other, I was envious. Stefan even told Courtney about his…condition before he did me. And I had to guess it!

"Yeah, but you could have that person track the phone number," I suggested, still trying to have hope.

_She hates you, and you know that. You should have let her keep her memory. You should have let her do what she wanted, Elena. It is her life and she should be able to know about things without the worry of getting her mind compelled by anyone. Elena Gilbert, you are the worst twin sister anyone could ever have. You're selfish, secretive, such a whore and you disappoint your sister, the one person you can't live without._

_I disgust myself._

MY POV (COURTNEY'S, KAYLIE)

**SIX DAYS LATER…**

"You got it?" Katherine asked me as I saw a man walking out of the bar we partied in. It was a pretty good morning, I just had some more fun with Harry who was turned by yours truly. Turns out he was human when I feed on him, so I wasn't going to die when I thought I was. Katherine was leaving for Mystic Falls in the morning. She was only going to teach me seven days and then trusted me to not kill everyone in the town. I knew I could trust myself too. I was better than any vampire that ever lived around blood in the shortest time, according to Katherine. Luke was still alive after Katherine fed from him and I had to make sure Harry didn't start feeding on his best friend. Around the bloody Luke, I didn't vamp out once. I was just that fucking awesome.

"I got it," I reassured her before walking up to the man. He looked like he was in his early twenties, just how I liked them. We, Katherine, Harry and I had been "training" all day and Harry successfully failed at learning so Katherine tried to snap his neck, but I wouldn't let her. Instead, Katherine gave him over to some witch, so that was taken care of. The man walked into an alley to smoke, but he never got to light his cigarette. "Hello."

"Hey." The man instantly backed me up against a wall and his hands fell to my waist. "What's a pretty girl like you out at night? Alone?"

"I don't know," I whispered seductively in his ear. "I was just out on the town and I wanted to have some fun." I looked up to him through my eye lashes.

The man replied back, "I can show you some fun…"

"I'm sure you can." A devious smile bloomed on my face. I looked the man straight in the eyes and said, "You won't scream."

"I won't scream," the man repeated back to me in a monotone voice.

"You won't run away and you won't be afraid." Before the man could say anything back, my teeth were on his neck, sucking his blood. It was rushing and amazing. Not only did I love the taste, I loved what it was doing to my body. I felt regenerated, like I could run miles and not get tired. I felt like I could lift the world above my head and start spinning until the world flew out of my hands. I felt energized with the fresh blood in my system.

Just as I was getting really into drink the blood, I realized that I was taking too much and if I kept it up, I'd kill the poor man. Sadly, I lifted my lips off of his neck and looked him in the eyes again.

"You won't remember this. All you did was come into the alley to smoke, you met me and we kissed for a little. Then I left and you returned to smoking," I commanded making up something off the top of my head.

"I don't remember this."

I gave the man a quick peck on the lips and said, "Thanks, babe! See you never."

With a bounce in my step, I made my way back to my look-alike who had a surprised smile on her face. "I'm impressed."

"Of course you are, I'm Courtney Gilbert."

"You have my confidence," Katherine commented as we walked back to her car.

"I'm confident, you're arrogant," I retorted back when I closed the door. Katherine gasped and started the car.

"Hurtful…" Kat put her hand over her heart, then she started driving. "Anyway, the way you just made yourself pull away from him without any hesitation is amazing. I couldn't master that until 1569. Even then, I was still a bit shaky. I knew there was something about you…"

"Admit it, I'm fucking amazing."

"You are fucking amazing, like me."

"Oh, when did we arrive in _Cocky Land?_"

"Look who's talking."

Kat and I drove in silence…most of the way. The other half of the way, we were singing/mocking Selena Gomez and One Direction when their songs came on the radio station we were listening to. We mocked other singers and groups, except Maroon 5. Yeah, they've earned respect.

"I'm hitting the sack," Kat called from the bathroom.

"What is this, the 1980's?" I replied back after changing into a Republic tank that was gray along with the short shorts.

"The 1980's weren't actually that bad, they were fun."

"Were they fun because you were watching Stefan undress every night?"

Kat's head popped out the bathroom to look at me, "Maybe…"

"You were so obsessed with him, weren't you?" I giggled, brushing my hair.

"Yeah, he was just something else." Kat looked up at the ceiling in the corner of the room like in the movies. "Damon was a gentleman and sweet and great in all areas, but Stefan had what he had and more. Stefan had a certain way of making me feel good. The way I felt when I was human and with my best friend I was in love with, but he wasn't the father of my baby. Anyway, Damon was kind of a toy with me. He was fun, but he was just being used. Stefan was the real deal… To be honest, I think it was always going to be Stefan," Katherine explained.

"At least I get Damon," I shrugged.

"Yeah," Kat scoffed, "like he would go for you." She looked me up and down and laughed. I used my vampire speed to throw a pillow at her and it caught her off guard. "Did you just throw a pillow at me like a teenage girl?"

"Unlike you, oldie," I smiled, "I am a teenage girl."

"Well, hurtful, that is no way to talk to family. Now I am definitely going to bed." Kat stomped out the room with a fake frown on her face and walked to her room. I let out a loud laugh and followed her.

"Goodnight," I called before walking into my room next to hers.

"'Night, bitch," she mumbled back in her room. Hah, I love vampire hearing.

Once my door was closed, I started to call out Vicki's name. I knew Kat might have been able to hear me, but she didn't say anything like I thought she would. Again, she didn't appear, just like I couldn't see Cassie. Was it because I was a vampire? Maybe…

_Whatever, I'll figure this out in the morning, _I thought to myself as I lied down on the bed and closed my eyes.

_"Darling, wake up," a British voice cooed next to me. I opened my eyes to a beautiful man lying next to me. He had sandy blonde hair with green eyes. I knew him, Niklaus. I had drawn him from Katherine's descriptions, but why was I dreaming of him? Why was I in a bed with him? I hadn't had these dreams in a few days or seen my dead friends. There was something seriously wrong with me, but I was still drawing pictures of random people. "Darling, you've been asleep for a while and I've only watched you sleep for a while. As creepy as that sounds."_

_"That's not creepy," I mumbled, yawning soon after. I knew it was weird for me to wake up in a bed with the man who was hunting Katherine, but he was hot and I wasn't going to deny him for anyone or anything._

_"Yeah, but I feel bloody creepy just lying there next to you watching you breathe in and out while your hair fell in your face and then I had to remove it. You know, you are beautiful when you sleep?"_

_"Klaus," I scolded bashfully looking away._

_"You truly are," Klaus insisted, bring my face back to his with his finger. Um…I like this dream…a lot._

_"Stop, I'm not—"_

_"Shh, love." Klaus put his lips to mine to join us together in a passionate kiss. With our lips attached, we kissed for a few minutes before we decided we needed to get up._

_Klaus pecked me on the lips one more time and then got up from the bed and out from under the covers. "I don't know what we're doing today, to be honest." I laid my head on my hand which was pushed up by my elbow, lying on my side. Klaus was putting on his pants, white jeans and started looking around for a shirt._

_"We could just have an 'us' day," I suggested, not really knowing what to say. I had no idea how long I had been in the relationship with Klaus or when we met. It had to be after Kat left for Mystic Falls, but how long? That's what I was confused about._

_"Sweetheart, we had that yesterday," Klaus denied with a smile, looking at me. I rolled my eyes and hopped up in sitting position, the duvet still covering my legs._

_"Yeah, but sweetheart," I mocked his accent, making him playfully frown, "we can do it again if you really love me." Klaus's fake frown turned into a real one as he made is way over to me. With both hands on each side of my face, Klaus kissed me._

_"Of course I love you," he confirmed after our lips disconnected._

_"Then can we go out together?"_

_"No, what I meant by I have no plans for _us _is that I'm doing something…_alone. _I don't want you coming when I have to do business. You know that."_

_"Yeah, but Nik, I want to do something with you," I whined sounding like a small child._

_"Nope, I've got to go." Klaus pulled out a gray shirt out of the drawer. I hopped out of the bed quickly to catch Klaus before he got out the door. I put my hand on his arm and turned him around into my lips._

_"Promise we'll have tonight together?" I requested._

_"I promise."_

_Klaus was out the door by the time I had something else to say. Usually, with any other guy that would walk out, I would frown, but for some reason, I smiled. I smiled at the thought of waking up next to Klaus, kissing Klaus and having him all to myself. I didn't know how this happened, but frankly, I didn't want it to stop. I wouldn't trade those moments for anything in the world. Sadly, not even for family._

_Since I had some time on my hands, I decided to look around the small room we had. First, I had to find a shirt or something because I was only in my red lacey bra and underwear. I found Klaus's shirt on the side of the bed and slipped it on. He was so much bigger than me, it landed down to my knees, or maybe I was just really small._

_I looked around the room for anything that would catch my fancy, yet found nothing. I started to wonder out of the bedroom and into the other parts of the apartment. It was set up like Kat and mine's did in the real world. There was a small living room with a couch, coffee table and TV, next to it was a small kitchen and three rooms with two bathrooms. It was small, but cute and exactly how I wanted to live. I found my phone on the table and decided to look through it. I found names like Bonnie/Witch/Best Friend, Caroline/Best Friend Elena/Sissy, Damon/Best Friend, Katherine/Best Friend, Matt/Friend, Rebekah/Best Friend Tyler/Werewolf and one surprising one. Stefan/OL. That was my secret code for Other Lover. Stefan was my what?_

_"Courtney," a voice called from behind me. I was surprised and dropped my phone. I turned around to see no one. "Courtney," it called again. I looked to my side and did a whole 360 while the voice kept calling my name. As it called my name, it became more clear as Katherine's. Finally when I found the body of Katerina Petrova with blood covering her body. Her eyes had black circles under them, grey hair and sunken in cheeks._

_"Katherine, oh, my god," I tried to take a step towards her, but there was like there was some kind of force field keeping us apart, but that didn't stop me from trying. I tried pushing against it, but nothing worked._

_"Courtney," she choked out. "Help me…"_

_And then I woke up._

_To someone shaking me and saying my name._

"Courtney!"

My eyes snapped open to see myself with longer hair hovering over me.

"Elena?"

"No, dumbass, Kat," she snapped. _Oh, that makes sense._

"What are you doing here?" I asked yawning.

"Something happened," Katherine answered, looking troubled. My tiredness faded away when I saw her expression.

"What is it?"

"There's no other humans in here," she mumbled.

"What's your point?"

"And I'm a vampire."

"What are you talking about?"

"It woke me up. I followed the sound here, to your room," she told me vaguely. I was starting to get annoyed with all these sentences cut short. I thought I'd be more annoyed, but I wasn't.

"Don't keep it to yourself, spit it out," I demanded.

"I can hear your heartbeat."

**So I said in the last part, that was really short, that I'd update yesterday, but I got really busy and then The Vampire Diaries and Reign came on. Did you see that ending though? That just proves why I love Katherine. Anyway, please don't hate me for lying to you. *cowers, putting hands over face to protect such beauty***

**So, everyone, Courtney will be meeting Klaus soon… Are you guys confused? Do you know what's going to happen? Because I don't. I have a few things figured out, but this is more of a 'just go along with it as I write' kind of story; not planned out.**

**So, I hope you liked it and bye!**

**katherineismikaelson**


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

_You know what to do.__ I left a phone number for a girl you can call later to drink from. I'm sorry I have to leave right after the discovery we made about you, but while in Mystic Falls, I'll try to find out as much as I can. And sorry that I had to kill you once more, but it was kind of necessary. While you're there, you can do some digging of your own._

_Hers: 720598394_

_Mine: 303049859_

_Katherine_

I set down the note I just read and started to think about last night. I thought the dream was weird, but what was even weirder was waking up. I had been a vampire for a week, feeding and using my vampy powers and all of a sudden, the same night I finally have a dream, I'm human and I have a heartbeat. It wasn't normal, I guessed by Katherine's muddled expression when her suspicions were confirmed.

With no explanations, Katherine told me to drink, held out her bloody wrist, and then killed me. I just woke up now when I found the note and read. And I did plan on investigating what the hell happened to me, after I got something to eat.

I dialed the number on the note and a girl picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Katherine told me to call you," I answered hopefully.

"Oh, good. I was wondering how long I'd have to stand outside your door," she laughed. "If you let me in, I can feed you right now." Katherine made her stand outside the door? Talk about fast food.

"Alright." I hung up the phone and opened the door to see a blonde woman, taller than me, in a pink sundress and pale pink heels. She looked like the girly-girl type when her face lit up with a smile when she saw me.

"Hey," she greeted, and then shoved her wrist to my mouth. I had to hold my scary face in while I scolded her, "Not in the hallway, get in here." I grabbed her by her hand and yanked her in. The woman stumbled in, but she at least didn't fall. _I did pull her kind of hard, didn't I?_

After looking both ways down the hallway and seeing nada, I closed the door behind me and saw the woman standing pleasantly. _Good lord, Katherine, what did you do?_ I took the time to study her before asking her name. She had long blonde hair that ran to her mid back. She had high cheek bones, a button nose and thin lips that were covered in red lip stick. She looked about in her late twenties or early thirties. All in all, this woman was pretty; I _almost_ felt bad about killing her.

"What's your name?" I asked politely.

"Jenna, Jenna Dennings," she answered back.

_Jenna…_

She had the same name as my much loved aunt. I didn't know if I could do it. I didn't know if I could kill the woman, but I needed blood, and a lot of it.

"Jenna," I whispered, looking away, but then looking back. "I want you to stay quiet and not make a sound. You need to stand still and not be scared." Jenna nodded like she was in a trance. "And Jenna?" She replied to nothing, just stood there. "I'm sorry."

I jumped forward to a non-moving Jenna and latched my teeth to her neck and started sucking her blood. Once again, the blood tasted like heaven flowing into my mouth, but I didn't enjoy it like I enjoyed all the others. Maybe it was because this woman reminded me of Caroline in some ways or maybe it was because she had the same name of an aunt I missed. Or maybe it was both, but it didn't matter. I couldn't kill this woman. But it was too late.

By the time I processed and confirmed I wasn't going to kill Jenna Dennings, she was already lifeless. With eyes wide open and an actual smile on her face, Jenna was dead in my arms that were the only things from keeping her from falling to the ground.

_First human I've ever killed._

There was a part of me that hated myself, the same part pitied Jenna, even though she probably didn't want pity and a part of me that actually liked seeing her dead. I hated that part of me with burning passion, but that didn't make me like it any less.

_Ugh, I've turned into a Katherine._

So, instead of hating myself standing still, I hated myself and worked. I had to make it look like she had a suicide or something, so I grabbed a razor from Katherine's room, (no, I dunno why she had a razor) and cut each of her wrists and her neck, right through the two holes. Careful not to get any blood on the carpet or the rug, I checked the hallway to see no one and quickly (I mean vampire speed quick) drug her to the ice box. Then I was in my room in less than a second with the door closed behind me and a tear welling up in my eye. I knew that I was going to kill more than just her, for whatever reason, but that still didn't erase the pain of taking someone's life.

_Courtney Gilbert, you are going to hell._

So, with that thought, I waved off my previous actions and headed to my room to change. Now, I had to look for answers, wherever I'd find them anyway. I didn't know where to start, but I had a feeling I could borrow (nah, steal) a car and drive to Georgia to get some answers from Bree. Katherine introduced me to her on the way to the apartment. Then if she didn't have anything, I'd call up my other witch. Jane-Anne Deveraux. She was one of my favorite witches because as much as she hated them, she could deal with vampires, and I actually liked her. Actually kind of a sweet girl, to be honest.

I threw on my clothes; a light blue tank top, green and white striped shorts and black converse. I decided I wasn't going to look like I was rich as fuck or going on a date. I wanted to look as normal as I could for all our sakes. The only jewelry I had on was the necklace Damon gave me which I already knew I wasn't going to be taking off anytime soon.

With that, I just grabbed my phone, $70 and was out the door to hunt down a car. There were people gathered in the hall from Jenna's dead body, some screaming, some checking to see if she was alive and some on their phones calling the police or other family. My heart sunk a little when I saw her lifeless face looking peaceful as she lied there dead.

_Jenna, I'll always remember you…_

"Miss?"

I whipped around to see an old man, about in his sixties, holding out car keys to me. _Did Katherine…?_

"Yes?" I answered sucpisiously.

"Your friend -Katherine, was it? - told me to give you the keys to my car." The old man smiled at me as he jingled the keys in my face. I almost groaned and stomped my foot. _Why? Why Katherine? He's an innocent man, and I can take care of myself._

"What's your name?"

"Julius."

I took a step closer to _Julius, _looked him in the eyes and ordered, "Julius, I want you to go back to your room, take a nap and when you wake up, you won't remember anything, alright?" Julius didn't nod or take a step. All he did was laugh.

"I'm on vervain, Courtney, that won't work on me," he informed me. My browns creased and I wondered, how the hell did Katherine pull that off? "She told me if I didn't give them to you, she'd kill my granddaughter," Julius explained like he read my mind.

"Oh, well, how does she know that you gave the keys to me?" I wondered.

Julius answered, "She'll just know." Instead of waiting for me to put it out, Julius took my hand and rolled the keys into my fingers. "Go find your answers and personally, I like you better because you didn't just take my keys."

I smiled back at him and nodded as thanks. Then I took off to find the car that was his. After pushing the unlock button to many cars and waiting for them to beep, I found his red SUV in the middle of the parking lot. It was a fairly nice car (not my favorite by far) and it could probably make it to Georgia and New Orleans without any problem.

_Let's just hope one of my witches has the answer._

Once I got buckled in the car and started to drive, I whipped out my phone to call Katherine.

_"What?"_

"Why they hell did you threaten an old man into giving me his keys?" I snapped right after she greeted me with her snarky tone. I heard Katherine mumble something not even my vampire hearing could pick up.

_"So he did give you the keys?"_

I replied, "Yes, and he said he liked me better. Why did you do that anyway? You know I can take care of myself…"

_"Yeah, but I just left you there right when something interesting happens to you and with nothing to answer the question: Why did you turn back into a human?"_

"Katherine, that's sweet. Is Katerina Petrova actually caring for someone that isn't herself?"

_"Shut up, I can care. I cared for Stefan. So, anyway, where are you going?"_

"I don't really know," I lied, "I'm just going to go wherever comes to mind. Hopefully, it's towards a witch."

_"Well, we do have a friend down in New Orleans…maybe you could head over there?" _Katherine suggested smugly.

"That is actually a good idea, thanks Kat!"

_"You're welcome Ri,"_ she replied back happily.

"Ri?"

_"Riana."_

"Oh, anyway, bye!"

Katherine didn't even say bye again, but I could tell she wanted to. Kat wasn't the kind of person who would show her feelings at all, she'd just act upon them. She wouldn't say, "I care for you." or "You mean something to me." No, she was the kind of person that would be like, "Shut up, bitch, I'll help you anyway." and then save me from falling into a fire pit, or something. Kat didn't want her feelings known.

And that was exactly one of the things I liked about her.

* * *

><p>"Where is my favorite witch?" I asked bursting in the bar. It was darker in the bar, especially with my shades on my eyes. Everyone's heads snapped towards my direction and most of them scowled. <em>Probably witches. <em>Some of them smiled at me, sensing another vampire in the room. No one answered me though, they just stared. "Take a picture, I'll last longer. So, my main witch, Bree?"

"Damon Salvatore killed her," someone called from the bar. I instantly froze. The man at the bar raised his eyebrows at me and started to take a sip from his drink.

_She's dead? Damon killed her?_

The rest of the witches and vampires with humans in the bar turned away from me and continued their conversations. I ignored all of them and stomped my way to the man sitting on the stool. He didn't look up when he clearly knew I was standing above him.

"Damon Salvatore did what? And Bree is what?" I demanded. The man sitting below me sighed and looked up to me.

"Which twin are you?"

I answered determined and quick, "Courtney."

"I'm Will, Courtney, and Bree is dead. She was murdered by Damon Salvatore a while back. "I don't even know how you knew her, anyway, she has been dead and you have never come to see her before that."

"I've met her, she was…oh…" My voice trailed off when I realized what happened. "She was a ghost," I mumbled quietly.

"What?" Will asked.

"Damn right I am," a voice piped up, making me jump. I saw a familiar face leaning on the bar behind the counter. "I was wondering how long it would take you. You never visited Georgia with Katherine, you just dreamed it up."

"Will, will you excuse me?" I asked distracted, staring at Bree.

"Sure…" Will replied unsure. I thanked him with a smile and then walked to the bathroom. Bree disappeared from her spot behind the bar, but then reappeared when I opened the door to the bathroom. She was standing there with a devious smile on her face.

"What the hell is going on?" I demanded in a hushed tone once I locked the door.

"No need to be uptight," Bree retorted. "So, basically, you're a witch."

"What now?"

"Well, you were a witch. And you could see dead people, dream about dead people and see the future. But you kind of lost your mojo when you turned into a vampire. I don't know how you are seeing me right now since you can't be a witch and a vampire, so I'm pretty stumped."

I stared at Bree like she had grown two heads. Then I started laughing. I laughed and laughed, but once I realized that she wasn't shitting me, I stopped. Bree had a straight face on while she told me this, "You're a freak."

"I'm not a witch," I replied, totally ignoring her last comment.

"I know, I just said that."

"And I never was one. I'm just imagining you," I tried to convince myself more than her.

"If you imagined me, would I be able to do this?" Bree touched my shoulder and my cheek. I slapped her hand away and shook my head.

"No, you can't do that. This is Vicki all over again."

"Listen to me—" Bree grabbed hold of my arms "—I don't know how you can see me because you were a witch before you turned a vampire, but all I know is that you have to keep this a secret. You cannot tell Katherine, Caroline, Bonnie or even Elena because this could be a break through. Why don't you just keep this between us, huh?"

"Sure," I blindly agreed, staring at her hands on my forearm. "So how did I come back alive? Like human alive when I was a vampire and Katherine killed me?"

"I don't know, but you're going over to Jane-Anne, right?"

"Okay, how do you know this?" I questioned. I never told her about Caroline or Bonnie, it was kind of creepy how she knew.

"This ghost thing is really working out for me. I think because I was a witch before, this kind of stuff just comes to me," Bree laughed, trying to look chill. She wasn't really pulling it off. "Are you going to Jane-Anne's?"

"After a little stop back in Mystic Falls," I replied, reminding myself of how Bree died.

"You're going to avenge me?"

"Hey, you might not have been real, but you were pretty awesome in my dream. I like you because you believed in me."

"Thank you," Bree told me, with a genuine smile on her face. I smiled back.

"So yes, I am going to Jane-Anne's. Do you want me to tell her anything?"

"No, I was just wondering. She will probably have the answer to your question or at least a lead to it."

"Bree, thank you for explaining this to me." Bree shook her head and looked away. "What?"

She then looked into my eyes and said, "You will forget what I just informed you about. All you know is that you can see me and that I sent you in Jane-Anne's direction. The next time you see me, you will remember what I said to you."

"Are you trying to compel me?" I asked after I processed her words.

"Ghost thing, remember?"

"But you can't compel a vampire," I reminded her.

"_Audite."_

My mind suddenly went blank.

"Bree?" I questioned when I saw her touching my shoulders. She smiled sadly at me, but disappeared into thin air. _What just happened? _"Whatever, I have to get to Jane-Anne's," I mumbled to myself unlocking the door.

"Did you do what you needed to do?" Will asked me when he saw me.

"Yeah," I answered, "But now I have to go. I'm sorry, Will, but call me," I suggested. Will nodded and took out his phone. It was kind of weird because I hadn't put my number in anyone's phone since Tyler asked me out on the first day of freshman year.

"Bye, Courtney," he waved to me as I walked to the door. I waved back to him and slid my shades of my face. _Answers, here I come, after a short stop._

* * *

><p>When I walked up to the Salvatore Boarding House, I saw a woman standing there. She was standing there like she was waiting for someone, that someone me because when she saw me walking that way, she visibly brightened up. Although she looked excited to see me, she did look a little troubled. Like she was about to do something that would haunt her forever.<p>

"Who are you?" I called out before I even really processed her face.

She answered, "Your mother."

I stopped cold in my tracks and stared at her a little more.

_Isobel._

"What are you doing here?" I demanded quietly. She smiled as she came closer to me, and stopped when we about three feet apart.

"I came to say goodbye to you. When Will said he saw you at Bree's bar, I knew you were going to come right here to get Damon, so I waited," she explained softly, like it was the most simple and obvious thing in the world.

"Goodbye?"

"I know you won't stick around after this, I mean why would you? All your friends will do is lie to you. I mean, that's what they did, didn't they?"

"What's your point?" I commanded harshly. She had been absent for all of my life. I hunted her down and still didn't find her. When I got a lead on her, it went cold. Then when she finds out that Elena and I were searching for her, she said to fuck off. Now, after I was totally over finding her, she had to come back waltzing into my new life claiming that she was saying goodbye. Excuse me if I wasn't a happy camper.

"My point is that I want to apologize for never coming to see you. I'm sorry that left you and Elena on someone else's doorstep. I'm sorry that I didn't even try to leave any clues that I was around or still alive, actually, I am dead, and I'm so sorry. You deserve to know about your family and you deserve better than me. I want you to know who your father is. John Gilbert."

I was flabbergasted.

"John?" I repeated, totally astonished.

"Yes, we were kind of lovers. But back to the point, you deserve better and I apologize that I have to leave now that I'm back in your life, but this is the way it has to be," Isobel said to me. I had the urge to flip her off and tell her to fuck herself, but I didn't for some reason. Instead I said my feelings.

"Do you know how much it hurt to know that you might have been dead? Do you know how much it hurt when you had that man tell us to stop looking for you?" I ordered. There were no tears welling up or coming to my eyes because she didn't deserve it. "Do you know how much I wanted to see my mommy?" I whispered.

"I'm sorry, Courtney—"

"Isobel, when you break a plate and then say sorry to it, does that make the plate piece itself back together again? Does it really fix anything?"

"No…"

"Exactly," I snapped. She looked taken back by my tone, but that didn't stop my rant. "So don't waste your apologizes on me because it won't matter. Saying you're sorry won't make the pain of missing you in my life go away, will it? Isobel, you are dead to me and I don't want anything to do with you. You had your chance to say something in my life, but you didn't tell me jack squat. You put no effort at all to mother your children missing their parents, so fuck off, Isobel. I don't care anymore."

"I am so sorry." Isobel took a step forward and hugged me without my consent. Even though I didn't want to touch or hug her, I didn't fight back. In fact, I hugged her back and let out a few tears.

"Am I not good enough to know you? Or did you just really not want children?" I sobbed into her shirt.

"I am so sorry," was all she said. It wasn't even the right answer to my question. Isobel rocked me back and forth on my heels. She kissed me on my forehead before saying, "I'm sorry and I'll miss you. Go to John for the rest of the story."

I pulled away and stared her in the eyes.

"Take this." Isobel handed me a paper that had my name written in cursive on it. "Don't open it now, or even in a week. Just open it when you really need answers. It might not be a great answer and it might leave you with more questions, but it will explain a lot."

"Isobel?"

"Goodbye, Courtney Riana Petrova." Isobel was gone by the last word.

_What the actual fuck? Why is she saying goodbye to me?_

I shook off the feeling of missing her touch and tucked the note into my pocket. To be honest, I didn't plan to open the letter ever. She didn't deserve it, but I had a feeling I'd be opening it in the future.

I wiped my eyes and sniffled my nose before strutting up the steps and in the door to the Salvatore's house. I could hear Damon pouring a drink in the living room with the fire crackling. It was only four o'clock and he already had the fire going? Um…okay?

"Elena?"

"Wrong twin," I called to him, walking down the steps. Damon instantly turned to me as I smiled at him. His eyes widened when he saw me sitting on the couch.

"Courtney," he breathed, dropping his glass to the ground.

"Well don't keep your mouth open." I got up from my spot at the couch and made my way over to Damon to close his mouth. "You'll catch flies."

"What are you doing back?" he asked stunned. He looked so happy I almost regretted what I was about to do. _Almost._

"Avenging a friend." I quickly landed my hands on his neck and snapped it. I watched in joy as he fell to the ground lifeless…for now. "What are you doing?" I asked the lifeless Damon on the floor tauntingly.

* * *

><p>"Who are you?" a girl behind the counter of the bar I walked into looking for Jane-Anne Deveraux asked me. I almost said something witty to cuss her out, but then I realized she actually looked like Jane-Anne a bit.<p>

"I'm looking for Jane-Anne Deveraux, is she around?"

The girl behind the counter scoffs, but replied, "Yes. Who is asking, may I ask?"

"Courtney Gilbert," I stated annoyed with the girl. "She'll know me." I crossed my arms and waited for her to get Jane-Anne but the girl made no move to call anyone over. "Please, if you won't tell her I'm here, point me in the direction of her."

"What do you want with her?"

"Sophie, it's okay, I know her." Jane-Anne's voice rang from behind me. I turned around to see her carrying some boxes. She smiled at me and I smiled back. "Courtney, long time, no see." She quickly set the boxes down and goes in for the hug.

"I know," I said as she wrapped her arms around me. She stiffened noticeably when she felt my touch. I was waiting for her to realize I wasn't completely myself.

"She's done it," Jane-Anne stated, pulling away.

"Sadly, yes and there's a problem with that. That's what I came here for."

"If you want me to do anything for Katherine Pierce, you can forget it," Jane-Anne clearly defined with a scowl on her face. I laughed and looked away. "What?"

"It's just funny how many people hate Katerina." Jane-Anne cracked a smile with me. "So, this has nothing to do with Katerina, but it does have something to do with me. Can we talk in private?" Jane-Anne looked back at Sophie who looked a bit confused from our conversation.

Jane-Anne had helped Katherine and I do a little research on Niklaus and the Original family. Then, after that, she helped me, along with Antonio on the research about Silas. She was also funny and caring and we were what you could call friends. I knew she instantly didn't like me now because I was a vampire, but I knew on some level she still cared about our friendship and that I would never do anything to hurt her.

"Sure…" Jane-Anne beckoned me to the back and I followed her. Before I knew it, I was outside, behind the bar. "So, what is this about?"

"I turned into a vampire last week. That means Katherine killed me and then I woke up as a vampire, fed and then I did the same thing for a week. But last night," I took a dramatic pause. Jane-Anne leaned forward, anticipating the news. "I was human."

Jane-Anne was confused. She didn't react to the words right away, she just stared at me with a blank expression and said nothing. I waited patiently for her to say something and when she finally did, it was minutes after my confession. I didn't blame her, it was a pretty rare case of insanity to think you could turn into a vampire then back into a human without even knowing it, but alas, it did happen to me.

"That's not possible," Jane-Anne denied. I just nodded as she paced back and forth through the alley. "Even if it was, I have no idea how you would even do that. I have never, in all my life, heard of that. I didn't think it was possible and it's not. Why are you lying?" she demanded.

"I'm not lying. This is totally real. I just wanted your opinion on it. I'm sorry if I came for no reason," I apologized, putting my hands up in the air.

"No, it's okay. I think I might know someone who can help you, but you need to be calm when you meet him. His name is Marcel and we need his permission."

"Why?"

"He runs New Orleans. He's a vampire, very old vampire and he has a secret weapon that will expose us if we use magic at all in the quarter," Jane-Anne explained looking afraid. I stared at her with big, pitiful eyes. I knew I shouldn't be feeling pity for her because when my parents died, I didn't want pity but I couldn't help it. New Orleans was her home and she was being ruled and watched over by some vampire who had a secret weapon against them.

"Then let's kick his ass," I suggested with enthusiasm. Jane-Anne shook her head and put a finger over her mouth. I quieted down and the smile fell off my face.

"We cannot talk like that. His _Day Walkers _might hear us."

"His what nows?"

"Just come with me." Jane-Anne wrapped a hand around my wrist and dragged me back into the bar where Sophie was waiting. "By the way, Sophie is my sister," she informed me as we passed by the young girl. I gave her a smile and waved, but all she did In return was stare at me. And it wasn't exactly a nice stare.

"Your sister's nice," I commented while we walked down the sidewalk. One of the things I loved about New Orleans was there was never a dull moment. There was always something going on in the streets or on the side. Shops had to be having a guest singer or there was a parade on the street. It was beautiful in so many ways; especially at night. Plus, the food was amazing and I was infatuated with it.

"She's just a bit protective. There's a ceremony that happens and she's just afraid that the people she loves will disappear. That's pretty much it," Jane-Anne explained, with kind of a sarcastic tone, but I didn't catch on quick enough.

"Oh…"

"No, she's scared that vampires will kill us because we mess up once or something," she snapped angrily. "I don't want anything to happen to her or happen to me and put her through that pain."

"Sorry, I didn't realize…"

Silence fell over us like a blanket as we continued down the road to wherever this Marcel was. We finally came up on a bigass manor that the Lockwood Mansion would be jealous of. It was the real deal; with its old looking décor and fence around it. _I'm actually starting to like this Marcel guy, and I haven't even met him._

"Now, play it cool or we won't get the permission we need," Jane-Anne warned me as we stopped right in front of the household. I saluted with a straight face on and made Jane-Anne laugh. "Let me do all the talking. Is that a plan?"

"Ma'am yes, ma'am." Jane-Anne nodded and we walked into the mansion Mr. Lockwood had to check out and drool over. Instantly, there were vampires by our sides, staring at us suspiciously. One of them was tall and had a beret atop his head. The other one, on the right side of me, was dark-skinned and had curly hair.

"Where is Marcel?" Jane-Anne demanded.

"What do you want?"

_Ah, a male Sophie._

"We want to see Marcel," I answered this time. "So if you would be so kind and pull your head of your ass and go get him that would be amazing." Jane-Anne elbowed me, but didn't look at me to give me the glare she wanted to and whispered, "What happened to the plan?"

"What did you just say to me?"

"Jane-Anne, I thought he was a vampire," I turned to her with a shit-eating grin. "Shouldn't he have heard what I said using his vamp hearing?" I slowly turned my head to the angry looking vampire. "Or is he just that slow?"

"I don't understand why she's doing this. She does know that I can rip her head right off her shoulders?" the man asked his other friend that looked amused.

I questioned when his friend didn't answer him, "You don't understand much, do you?"

The vampire made a move to kill me, but a voice rang out stopping him. "Diego, they're our guests."

I sent 'Diego' a smug smile and looked up at the balcony to see yet another dark-skinned man. He had a smile on his face like the one with the beret like he heard our conversation a few moments before.

"Marcel, I presume?" I assumed and the man nodded in response. "This is one hell of a mansion you got going on here. Dude, if you built this, you are fucking awesome." I was trying to butter him up for when we asked for his permission.

"Thank you, but I didn't completely build this house. I had some help from others," Marcel replied as he walked down the steps confidently. "But off the topic of me, I want to know why you are here with the lovely Jane-Anne Deveraux? Hmm?"

"We have come to ask for permission," Jane-Anne piped up before I could reply with a witty answer.

"Permission for what?" Marcel hit the final step and suddenly he was in front of us. Jane-Anne jumped a bit, but I stayed still. I figured that he would like to scare Jane-Anne a bit. He didn't like her, but he would tolerate her.

"To use magic."

"No can do," Marcel laughed, much to my dismay. "What would you use it for anyway?"

"Not for what." Marcel, Diego and Other-Guy-Whose-Name-I-Didn't-Know-At-The-Moment's heads turned to me. "For who. And that 'who' is me."

Marcel looked utterly confused for a second before an expression of arrogant replaced it. He was enjoying that we had to come over and ask him if we could use magic. Or at least whoever Jane-Anne was taking me to. "Why?"

"Marcel, must you know everything?"

"Only if you want to use magic."

"Fine," I gritted. "I was a vampire yesterday, woke up in the middle of the night human. Is that good enough for you?"

"What?" Marcel's expression of confusion returned to his face. It was my turn to smile.

"Yup, I'm a vampire with issues," I said, walking around with my arms crossed, inspecting the house like it was my job.

"That's not possible…"

"Yeah, that's what she said. Now, we need to use magic to really find out, so if you could be the fucking awesome person I know you are and just grant us permission to use magic quickly, we'll be on our way."

Marcel looked at Diego and White-Boy-With-The-Beret with a determined face. I didn't know what he was thinking and that was annoying me.

"Okay, I guess you could, but we'd have to supervise it," Marcel finally answered. I smiled at him and gave him a pat on the back.

"You are a good person, now which one of your servants will accompany us?"

"We're not servants," Diego growled.

"But you are. You listen to Marcel's every word and don't even question it. Maybe that's grown up thing, I'm only seventeen, so I guess I wouldn't know how you old people act."

Marcel laughed while Diego intensified his glare. "I like her."

"Don't we all," Diego mumbled as he walked towards the door.

* * *

><p>"What are you doing here with them?" another dark-skinned lady asked as we came up in view at the graveyard. To be honest, it was kind of creepy that they had some of their houses there in the graveyard, of all places, but I couldn't judge anyone because I was just as fucked up as the next one, maybe even more. "Why do you bring vampires to me?"<p>

Ignoring the woman's greeting, Jane-Anne introduced, "Sabine, this is my friend Courtney, Courtney, this is Sabine, the witch that will help you."

"I don't remember agreeing to helping a vampire." Sabine looked me up and down with judging eyes. _Someone is on their period…_

"But she has a…_condition _and she's my guest," Jane-Anne tried to convince. "Think of her as a friend of a friend." Sabine still looked angry, but she waved us over. I hid my smile at the thought of always getting what I wanted. Well, almost always. I did eventually find out.

"What is wrong with the girl?"

"I happen to be a vampire yesterday, but then I woke up human in the middle of the night," I explained, trying to hide my happiness. Sabine stared at me with an expression of pure horror.

Sabine murmured, "But that's impossible."

"Nope, pretty possible for me. I was wondering if you had any theories, but judging by your face you don't really know, do you?"

"I have an idea, but I would need to use magic for it."

"Good that we got permission from Marcel, so let's get this show on the road," I smiled. Sabine stared at me with an expression saying "Don't press your luck."

"Fine, I'll look for something, but I probably won't find anything useful. Hold out your hand, child." I gladly and enthusiastically put out my right hand for Sabine to take. She started to mumble words that I couldn't really understand, but for some reason, they seemed like they were familiar or at least like…_family. _I started to mumble along with her, even though I thought I didn't know anything she was saying, the words just started to fall out of my mouth.

Sabine suddenly jerked her head up from her downwards facing pose. Her eyes were still closed, but even this practiced witch's nose was bleeding. Kat told me that young and inexperienced witches' would have their noses bleed. But Sabine, not that I was calling her old, but she seemed like she would be the kind of witch that practiced magic a lot even though she technically couldn't practice magic.

"Sabine, what is happening?" Jane-Anne interrogated. When she went to touch Sabine, her hand suddenly jerked off Sabine's arm. She was still mumbling her words intently and so was I along with her. "Courtney, what are you doing?"

I let my eyes close and I just murmured the words to myself while ignoring anyone and everyone around me. I felt like I belonged while I mumbled those words. I didn't feel how I felt next to Elena. I actually felt important, unlike most of my life being the twin of someone so perfect.

Then I felt a jolt of pain shoot through my arm and through the rest of my body.

I passed out.

The next time I opened my eyes, I was in the car, lying in the back. My head was pounding, mouth was dry and my lips were chapped. All the things that weren't happening before I passed out. I didn't remember how I had gotten there, only that I was with Sabine, Jane-Anne and Diego at the graveyard. It didn't make sense, unless they drugged me with some kind of vampire crap and drove me to my car.

_She didn't even help me…_

I decided to wave off that little fact and head back to the apartment. There was one thing I did know: Marcel had one hell of a house.

* * *

><p>I woke up in the bed of the apartment. It was comfortable and warm to be lying in the giant duvet and sweet covers. I was slightly bummed about not finding anything, but I had to count on Katherine to hope she found something.<p>

I felt like I was ready to go out on the town for no reason. Just find a little snack and do whatever the hell I wanted. I jumped up from the bed and checked my phone. It was _12:32pm _and I had three missed calls from Damon and two voicemails. I decided that I did owe it to him to listen because I did snap his neck.

_"You have to new messages," _the automatic voice informed me after I put in my password. _"First new message."_

_"Courtney, we want you to come home so bad…please. I miss you so much. I need my drinking buddy, my confession friend. I'm sorry that I waved off your feelings and didn't own up to my wrong when I didn't tell you. Courtney, I think in some way, I care for you deeply. You are my best friend, and I guess I'm not afraid to admit it. But I swear, if you tell anyone I said that, I will kill you. Courtney, come back… Bye…"_

I laughed and smiled sadly at Damon's message. On one hand, I wasn't ready to go back. In some ways, I was having fun being on my own but on the other hand, I felt horrible for leaving them behind. I just wanted to get away for a little while, but then it got out of hand. I found myself calling Katherine and then we ditched Mystic Falls and then she turned me _twice _and I just didn't want to leave. But Jeremy and Jenna and John didn't deserve for me to just leave them out of the blue.

_"Next new message."_

_"Why did you snap my neck? I thought you came home because you were ready to forgive us and ready to start over. Then instead I find out that bitch turned you into a vampire and you're over here snapping my neck 'avenging a friend.' What the hell is that supposed to mean? I'm your friend, right? Call me back, bye. Oh, and we're finding you anyway."_

At that message, I frowned. I was mad; not at Damon, but at myself. He was right, Damon was my friend and Bree was already dead. I couldn't do anything about it. I just felt mad that he would do that, but from all the bad things Damon had done, I guess I could kind of expect it. I needed to back to them. He said they were going to try to find me and with Damon's compulsion powers that could probably override mine, I had a feeling they would.

I just threw my phone back to my bed after _not _deleting either of the messages; I walked to the bathroom to take a quick shower. It was exactly what it was; quick. I had no time to think about my life or what was happening to me. I just rushed out and threw my clothes on. I wore a blue dress with a kind of tie-dye on it that ended at my knees, a black vest that was only cut out for my cleavage and around to the top of my neck and white and blue striped flats. On the way out, I added on a white beanie that sat at the top of my head, not covering all my hair. I had noticed that my hair had grown a bit; it was now down to my shoulders.

_I'll have to cut that soon._

I realized that I needed money to get something, but then it hit me; _I'm a fucking vampire, I'll just compel myself whatever I want._ It didn't matter because all I needed was my phone. The vampire powers would come in when I needed them. I grabbed the keys to Julius's SUV from the little counter that was in the kitchen right where I left them and skipped (not literally) out of the building right to the car. There wasn't much to explore here, but I would do what I needed.

After a few minutes, I saw a parade up ahead and decided that I would visit the park with everyone there and enjoy it. I was a vampire, but I could at least still do the things human me would do. Human Courtney would beg Elena to drive over there so I could over there and buy some blueberry cotton candy. Then Elena would laugh and say that I needed to cut back if I wanted to keep my beautiful body. Then I would tell her to shut up and we'd get out the car to have a sister day together. That was exactly how it would happen.

I pulled up into a parking space and got out. There was no place to slip the keys, so I just left them in the car. If someone did steal it, I would just track them down and suck them dry.

The sun was shining brightly down on me and I held my raven necklace to my chest. Originally, there wasn't any lapis lazuli in the eyes of the raven, but Katherine found a witch who would help us replace they eyes and make it my daylight necklace. I was ecstatic when Katherine told me I could stop wearing the bulky ring that was on my ring finger.

I started to walk with all the happy faces and joyful families with their children by their sides taking off their ears. Elena and I would be like that. We'd talk about whatever came to mind and point out the parade. We'd talk about boys and how much I hated Tyler but how much I didn't. How she'd talk about how much she loved Matt and that they were going to have two blonde babies and one brunette like her, but the blondes would have brown eyes and the brunette would blue eyes like Matt's. It didn't matter where we were; we would always make each other feel better and bond over anything. Then our parents died and we ventured further apart. I went to drinking, she went to writing. When she went to Bonnie, I went to Vicki or Caroline. It was kind of like our parents death was the death of the kind of sisters we use to be. And I missed it dearly.

But instead of dwelling on the fact that my sister wasn't next to me, I walked over to the candy cart and looked the vender in the eyes and said, "Give me some blueberry cotton candy for free, thanks."

The blonde haired boy nodded and started to pick up the blueberry cotton candy. I waited patiently and looked around at the parade. I couldn't wait to make a friend so we could walk around and make fun of the decorations yet enjoy it. But that wasn't the plan fate had for me.

From behind me, a very familiar British voice from my dreams asked me, "I wonder which twin you might be?"

* * *

><p><strong>Hello! I'm sorry that this was a long wait and this maybe really short and I'm sorry. So here I wanted to talk to a few you and answer your questions or comments.<strong>

**chibichibi98- (sorry if I got your username wrong) So I am going to hint that Courtney does have a kind of connection to Silas and Qetsiyah. She becomes very intent on finding Silas on the island for reasons that will be revealed. I have decided that Kol and Courtney aren't going to date, but they have a relationship that not many people have. They won't be in love, but they won't be just friends. They'll care about each other like they are a part of each other and it's actually kind of sweet. But Courtney only really likes one Mikaelson who is Niklaus. I agree with you, but there is a reason everyone cares for Elena's opinion more. She is the one they really need to protect and if she didn't want to Courtney to find out, she wasn't going to find out. I think that Bonnie seriously should have told her that she was a witch but alas, I didn't write it like that so tough nuts. And Katherine actually really starts to care for Courtney because she finds out something that she probably should share with Courtney right away, but she doesn't.**

**Lady Mikaelson- No, Courtney is not pregnant…yet. Niklaus isn't a hybrid yet, so that means that he is still technically dead and vampires can procreate. But, don't worry, she will get preggers with his baby, but it'll be after he gets Haley prego.**

**totalRandum- So far, there'll only be one Original in her life for now, but I will tell you in her dreams, she'll be seeing more of the whole Original family.**

**KlausXElena- Thank you! I was reading it over and I realized it's a little confusing with the time jumps. When I typed this in Word, the spaces were fine and then I copied and pasted it into the little story space and the spaces disappeared. I'm sorry if that threw you off a bit, but thanks for liking my story.**

**Okay, well I guess that's all. I'm sorry that I'm not talking to all of you when you comment, it's just that I don't have much to say because I've either already said it or there's not much to go on.**

**So I've had this really recent (I mean today) obsession with Florence + The Machine and I can't stop listening to them. Does anyone else love them? And then I was listening to Yeah Yeah Yeahs and realized that their song Sacrilege was in The Originals. Yeah, and then I realized I can't be married to, like 10 guys at the same time, but Sam, Dean, Stiles, Scott, Stefan, Damon, Klaus, Kol, Elijah and Matty are all mine and there's nothing I can do about it.**

**Okay, until next time, with another update that will hopefully be long.**

**katherineismikaelson**

**P.S. if you go onto my profile, you'll see a link to most of Courtney's outfits on Polyvore. I still need to create a few and the descriptions might give away a few hints to the story *wink, wink*. Alrighty, bye!**


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

"Excuse me?" I was alarmed by his question. Klaus wasn't supposed to find me. He was supposed to find…Elena. I was about to give up my sister for my own personal gain. _I can't believe Katherine almost talked me into giving my sister up and I agreed with her. I didn't realize what I was doing until it actually came up. I am such a bad person… No wonder Elena didn't tell you, Courtney, if you can't trust yourself, how do you expect your twin to trust you? Courtney, you were about to give up your sister. And you didn't even have regrets about it. You are the most horrible person I've ever known._

Luckily, before I could beat myself up any more about my ignorance, Klaus's voice broke me out of my thoughts. "Elena or Courtney? I know you couldn't be Katerina because she's running from me and she'd never let herself get caught."

I quickly turned around to blue eyes and a playful smirk. I looked a bit flustered and surprised by his expression. I thought he should have had some of back up coming from behind him, grabbing me by the arms and dragging me to wherever he wanted to go.

"Courtney," I answered softly. Klaus made a sound and put his finger on his lips.

"Your cotton candy is ready." Klaus pointed to the man holding out the bag behind me. I cautiously grabbed the bag, thanked the man and compelled him to forget me. After the man told me he forgot me, I turned back to Klaus. "Walk with me."

"Okay," I agreed. I didn't feel like putting up much of a fight because he was the real deal and there was no way I was getting on his bad side.

Klaus bombed me with many questions as we walked down the streets of the parade. Around us, people were setting up booths and carts for what looked like was going to be a fair. I wasn't sure what was going on that day and why they had a parade going on, but I didn't care. I was walking with an Original vampire that could kill me in less than a second. "Where is she? Why aren't you with your sister and friends? Why are you a vampire?"

I decided to lie and keep Katherine's ass safe, along with my sisters. "Katherine left me. She turned me into a vampire and then just suddenly left me. I'm not with my sister because she lied to me and I just didn't want to deal with that."

"Ah, so you are angry?"

"Exactly."

Klaus didn't say anything back. All he did was walk next to me. Eventually, he asked me an unimportant question. "May I have some?" Klaus used his hands to gesture to the cotton candy in my hands. Even I didn't take any because I was too busy wondering if Klaus would kill me once I answered all his questions.

"Sure," I replied, holding the bag out to Klaus. Before taking a small hand full, Klaus smiled at me. Nervously, I smiled back at him. "Why are you here, exactly?"

Klaus asked playfully with an American accent, "Why? Do you not like my company?" With another hand full, Klaus laughed.

"No, it's just, I thought you would be hunting down your doppelganger," I retorted, becoming more comfortable. At least he was being good about not killing or any mentioning of ending my undead life.

"Who said I wasn't right now?"

"I'm a vampire," I pointed out, looking a small child play with the birds. The little red-haired girl chased the birds around the fountain that slowly poured out water into the pool. She chased the pigeons around for a few minutes while her mother was talking on the phone and typing on her iPad. It was the kind of moment you would see in a movie that made your heart warm for a second. Sadly, she fell far away from her mother, who reacted quickly to her bleeding knees and palms. The smell of blood made my nostrils flare and my gums ache. Making myself proud, I continued to walk past the girl and her mother without breaking out into my scary face.

"So, it'd be great if you pointed me in the direction of your sister," Klaus suggested. I almost busted out laughing in front of the British lad. That's what he wanted; me to tell him the location of my sister, who I loved deeply and would never sell out, even more than I already did.

"It'd be great, but too bad I'm not going to tell you shit."

"Why wouldn't you? I heard that she lied to you," Klaus questioned calmly. I could tell he was getting annoyed with me, but he kept his cool so he could get what he wanted. Klaus wanted to be a hybrid more than anything. It was obvious since Katherine turned into a vampire and he took out his revenge on her family.

"I still love her," I said to him. Klaus looked me right into the eyes and chuckled.

"You sound like my brother."

"He still loves you after everything you've done to him and his family?"

"Yes," Klaus said quietly. _Sweet boy…_

"Do you love them at all?"

"Yes, I do love them. It's always and forever with them and to keep them close, I must keep them in a box," Klaus commented, sounding a bit sad. _Looks like the big bad Klaus does have a heart._

"What the hell do you mean?" I took another hand full along with Klaus at the same time which caused our hands to touch. A spark of electricity ran through my hand and up into my body. It felt like yesterday with Sabine touching my hand, but this time, it actually felt good. Like a school girl finally accidently touching her true love.

"There are daggers that can desiccate the Originals. Nothing can kill us, but there is something that could keep us stationary," he explained after swallowing the blueberry candy. "I just happened to do that to my siblings, but Elijah, my older sibling isn't. I don't know where he is now." Instead of looking at me or anyone else, Klaus looked up at the sky. It was still clear and blue, but there was something about it that was kind of becoming gray color. Like it was becoming the color Klaus felt.

"You should find out," I suggested.

"Why is that?"

"Always and forever, right?" Klaus's head slowly turned to me with a sweet smile on his face.

"I guess so," he mumbled. "Is that why you won't sell out your sister?"

"That and because I'm not heartless. I'm not so lost in my own wants to hurt someone I love."

"Are you saying I'm heartless?"

"No, I'm suggesting you've lost your way. Nothing is more important than family," I explained.

Klaus told me, "Some may say that I'm a lost cause."

"I think you think you're a lost cause. But everyone is able to have redemption. The faster you start, the better you'll be," I believed. Klaus chuckled again and stopped. I had to quickly stop myself and walk back to him. Klaus turned to me and shook his head.

"I have no way of redemption. I want what I want and whoever gets in my way, I eliminate. If I don't get what I want, I throw a fit and get revenge. I'm not a good person, Courtney."

"Klaus," I whispered, growing an un-ignorable feeling of attraction to Klaus. "I can help you get redemption if you let me."

Klaus finally let a smile bloom on his face instead of the frown that clouded not only his lips, but his beautiful eyes. "Are you flirting with me?"

"Just answer the question," I snapped playfully. Klaus chuckled again.

"Yes, please help me," Klaus agreed.

"Good, now to start with it, you have to stop searching for Elena." Klaus's smile dropped…again. "You need to be fine with yourself."

"I want—"

"Klaus," I interrupted. "You want to be all powerful and indestructible, but that power and everlasting life will be nothing without family and someone you love. You're pushing away family and any chances of someone loving you if you continue like this. You need to calm down and take the daggers out of your siblings' hearts. If becoming a hybrid is ruining your relationships with everyone, you need to say 'fuck it' and move on."

"But becoming a hybrid is what I've always wanted."

"You know what I always wanted? To be loved and you do too, I can see it. You want your siblings to love you and you want to become a hybrid and you want to rule the world and you want it all. Klaus, this is fucking reality and in reality you don't always get what you want. So, you need to suck it up and say 'tough balls' because not everything is going your way and I promise you you are not going to sacrifice my sister in some stupid ritual because you wanted to be king of the world." The longer I kept up my rant, the faster the words came out my mouth. "So shut the hell up, stop complaining that your family hates you and just try to be the good little vampire I know you can be. You're already an Original who can't be killed and probably the most badass of all your family, so get over it and go to dinner with me."

When Klaus didn't say anything, I kept talking even though I knew guys didn't like that kind of thing.

"Klaus, I know you've been alive for a while—"

I stopped talking when I felt lips on mine. I looked up to Klaus's eyes, which were inches from mine, and saw them close and mine were wide open. His lips were moving against mine that were unmoving and his hands were on either side of my face. _What the fuck?_

I kissed him back after moments of thought of what he was doing. There was nothing else but lips, no tongue or nasty spit, just soft lips working together to make us happy. Once we pulled away from each other, panting even though we knew we didn't need air as much as humans, I realized one of my arms was draped around his neck and the other softly on his chest, right where all the good, firm muscles were (*wink, wink*).

"What was that?" I questioned, pleasantly surprised. "We only just met."

"That was my polite way of telling you to be quiet," Klaus responded. His head bowed down to make our lips connect one quick final time. "Now, I'd like to take you up on that offer of dinner."

* * *

><p>"So, basically you ripped his head right off in front of her?" I asked, after listening to his story.<p>

"What can I say, I'm an arse." Klaus leant back into his seat and crossed his arms. I scoffed at him and threw my napkin down.

I shook my head at him. "No wonder she hates you. You've killed all of her true loves." Klaus smirked his devious smirk at me. I blushed and looked away even though you couldn't see the blush. I let my hair hide my eyes so he can't see the embarrassment and pleasure in them. Klaus was actually funny and witty and interesting. I never thought I would associate with him the way I was then. It was a pleasant dinner I was having with him and the night was still young. We had been at the restaurant for over four hours which we spent talking about our lives (I didn't give away my family location, for Elena's sake of course) and what we want out of it. I learned that Klaus didn't just want to be a hybrid, he wanted to be accepted.

Klaus's father, Mikael, wasn't his father. His mother Ester cheated on Mikael with a werewolf and out popped Niklaus. When Mikael found out, he was furious. Even though it wasn't even Klaus's fault, he rejected him as a son. Klaus was basically a reject in his family; the odd one out. When he becomes a hybrid (pfft, like I'd let that happen), he said he would make more like him because he didn't want to be the only one of his kind and alone.

Klaus wanted family and friends, as weird as it sounded. He didn't have either because they would get upset with him and he'd end up killing them or daggering them. I realized how misunderstood this guy was and how much pain he was really in. Klaus just wanted to be accepted, but he also had the undying need for power which scared me a bit.

His family sounded amazing, though. Rebekah sounded fun, Kol sounded even funner and Elijah seemed the funnest. He may have worn suits all the time, but the guy knew how to live his everlasting life. Rebekah and Elijah promised Klaus _Always and Forever, _but Elijah was gone and Rebekah was daggered in a box. I had a feeling Kol and Klaus didn't get along. Kol sounded full of himself and hard-headed while Klaus was power-seeking and cocky too. The sounded like two brothers that were enemies that loved each other no less. Aaron and Henrik sounded amazing too. Personally, I would have preferred Henrik because of his 'go get it' attitude Klaus described. Too bad he was killed by a werewolf, but that was what set off Ester's radar and caused her to protect her children by turning them into vampires. I had to thank Henrik for going out to watch the werewolves and getting himself killed. I could tell Klaus really loved his younger brother by the way he looked when he talked about his death. But the one I didn't like was Finn. Finn sounded boring and depressing, like he would brood every chance he got. The only thing I liked about his was when he decided to stop feeling sorry for himself and find himself a girl, Sage. The Original family had problems, but they loved each other.

In my dream, I woke up in a bed with Klaus next me and we were almost naked, I just never thought I would actually kiss him in real life. I knew in the dream that I enjoyed every time our lips touched very much, but the more I thought about it, I enjoyed it even more in real life. I was getting strong feelings for Klaus and I had only known him for a day. We had eaten and then started talking about random things and then the topic of life and family came up.

"Actually," Klaus objected, breaking me out of my thoughts, "I didn't kill every single one of her loves. There were two I left alive because I actually like them. One was Marcellus Gerard from New Orleans who liked my sister very much, but he was going to be my protégé. He had to pick between Rebekah and I and he just happened to pick yours truly."

"Wait, you're gay?"

"No, he was just mine to teach. I am very…straight, as you Americans say," Klaus denied calmly. The expression of worry washed off my face and I was relieved. I was happy I didn't kiss a gay man and enjoyed it because that would be awkward as fuck. Being gay wasn't bad, but I could already see Elena's conversation with me when I got back home.

_"Courtney! Thank god you're back!" she would scream when she saw me. She would rush to me standing in the doorway and attack me with her hug. "I thought you left forever."_

_"I kissed a gay guy," I would blurt out and it would get awkward. "And I enjoyed it."_

I'd rather not have that conversation Elena ever.

"Good," I murmured, making Klaus chuckle. "Who was the other one?"

"Oh," Klaus sighed. "The Ripper. He was my favorite lad that I met in a bar one night. He was amazing and he got all the blood he wanted inconspicuously. I was amazed my his ways and I befriended him. Then Rebekah fell in love with him and we were happy. The Ripper and I feasted on women during the first part of the night and Rebekah would take him back to her bedroom. I admit, I wasn't thrilled of the idea of The Ripper screwing my sister, but if he was happy, I was happy. We became real friends…"

"That sweet," I commented, a little hesitantly. "In a weird, sadistic way, Klaus. What happened to him? What was his name?"

"His name was Stefan Salvatore." At those words, I froze and tried not to make much of a reaction. I didn't want Klaus knowing I knew Stefan. "He left with some girl, Lanie, or something, she 'helped' him. Personally, thought he was just fine."

"Oh."

"Lexi's the name." Next to Klaus, a blonde girl popped up out of thin air. I tried not to jump, but I failed myself. I stared at the girl with an alarmed expression.

"What, love?" Klaus asked, alarmed.

"N-nothing," I stuttered once I realized he couldn't see her. _She's a ghost, _I thought. "I just have to do something. Excuse me." I slid out of the booth and walked in the direction of the women's bathroom. Lexi dandily got up from her spot next to Klaus and followed me. On the way in, there was a woman coming out that looked just like Cassie, the other ghost. I stared at her too, watching her walk back to her table, where a man was waiting. Lexi had already made her way into the bathroom, while I stood outside the door and watched the woman. Her head turned to me, earring jingling while she did, and she winked at me. I blinked my eyes one time and she was gone; another woman replacing her spot. I blinked repeatedly, trying to get the woman to reappear, but she didn't. I gave up after moments of blank staring.

Lexi was checking her reflection when I closed the door behind me. When she saw me in the mirror, she winked at me too. I checked every stall to find no one before demanding, "Why are you here?"

"I just wanted to pop in," she answered, finally turning to me again. "and warn you not to trust Klaus. He's a male version of Katherine Pierce. He'll seem nice, then he'll interrogate you to where your sister is and screw you over in the end. It doesn't matter how much he's in love with you or whatever, he will never lose sight of his real plan, to become a hybrid."

"I know, that's why I'm pretending to be his friend," I snapped back. Lexi didn't flip me off or react like I thought she would. Everyone was calm around me.

"So? You should get out while you can," Lexi warned. "You should make sure he doesn't kill you and find out the location of Elena."

"How can I see you? I get why I saw Vicki, because I knew her, but I don't know you."

"I don't really know how you can see me. I was just around, watching you talk to Klaus and watch him trick you into liking him. Then he started talking about me and I had to warn you about what he was doing," Lexi explained. "Stefan, yeah, I was his friend. I was the one who helped him with his problem and guided him in the right direction. He had his emotions turned off so, I had to get them turned back on."

"Why did you help him?" I asked.

"Because Damon asked me to."

"Damon Salvatore?" I questioned, sounding doubtful and surprised. "The same Damon Salvatore who hates his brother with burning passion because Stefan forced him into drinking human blood and turning into a vampire?"

Lexi nodded with the smile she had minutes ago still playing on her lips. "He may say he hates him, but he doesn't. Damon actually loves his brother a lot."

"How did you die?"

"Damon killed me," she replied simply.

"That's what I thought," I mumbled more to myself than anyone. "Did you have something going on with Damon? Is that why he asked you?"

"No, not before I helped Stefan," she told me. "Then Stefan asked me to help Damon and I kind of slept with him. Then it turned out that he was just playing me and he left me in the sunlight without my daylight ring. I gave up on him then."

"Did you have something going on with Stefan?"

Lexi scoffed. "As much as I love Stefan, I was never in love with him. We were strictly best friends."

"You ain't so bad," I told her, playfully.

"You ain't so bad too." A blanket of silence fell over us.

"I have to get back to Klaus."

"He's bad news."

"But I like him."

"I know and that's what's bad."

"Why are you helping me?"

Lexi took a deep breath and pushed off the counter of sinks she was leaning on. "Because it would be what Stefan wanted me to do."

"Thank you, Lexi," I said thoughtfully.

"Any time." She waved me off. "Be careful with Klaus."

With those words, Lexi was gone, disappeared out of thin air and I was alone in the bathroom. I sighed and thought of everything I had learned that night. There was a lot that was so much bigger than me and I learned a bunch of life stories.

The weirdest thing wasn't that ghost Lexi showed up, but that I learned that Stefan was a 'Ripper.' Stefan seemed like the most caring, sweet vampire on this earth and it turned out that he was a total killer in his earlier days. Stefan killed ruthlessly, according to Klaus, and he didn't even get caught. Stefan sounded fun, honestly, but he sounded dangerous too. Apparently, he had his emotions off so he couldn't feel the guilt from killing people, the happiness Rebekah gave him when they were together and the friendship he and Klaus supposedly had.

There were so many things I didn't know, yet I had a feeling that I did. I knew about vampires because of my dreams, I knew about Silas and Qetsiyah because of my drawings and I knew about Klaus because of my dreams too. It was nerve-wracking. I didn't know what I was, really. I had dreams, saw dead people and turned into a human randomly when I was already dead as a vampire. I was a freak.

I straightened out my dress and checked my hair and beanie before opening the door and walking calmly back to Klaus. He was intently looking down at the check that was on the table in front of him. I quietly slid back into the booth and waited patiently for him.

"They're kicking us out," Klaus told me, finishing up the check.

"We have been here long," I commented, laughing. "I'm ready to leave, are you?"

"Yes, leggo!" He imitated his horrible American accent that sounded like a Russian woman yelling at her child, but I still laughed along with him and took his hand when he put it out for me. "Where might we go now?" Klaus asked me.

"To the fair, of course," I answered, pointing at the lights ahead.

"If the lady would like to go to the fair, we shall go to the fair," Klaus agreed. I smiled at him and started skipping faster to the lights. Klaus laughed behind me and walked fast enough not to be too far away from me.

The first booth we came up on was a bottle throw. The couple in front of us groaned when they realized they weren't going to win. "This game is a rip off," the boy growled, throwing down the small circles that you would throw to catch them on the bottles. I giggled at the couple walking away angrily and turned to Klaus. Instead of a smile, he had a neutral expression.

"Klaus," I cooed, putting my hand on his arms. "Why don't you win me something? And no cheating with compulsion."

"But then it's no fun, darling," Klaus argued. I raised my eyebrow at and pointed my finger.

"First rule of redemption, no using compulsion when you don't need to," I listed off. "Sometimes you just gotta be human and do things the right way." Klaus opened his mouth to whine, but my glare stopped him before he uttered a sound. Klaus mumbled, "Whatever" and asked the man for a round and paid. I clapped my hands excitedly as I watched him throw the first ring. It didn't catch anything, just like the three other shots.

"Sorry, dude, you didn't get any so you don't win any," the man said to Klaus. He almost started running off his mouth, but I stopped them both from arguing by claiming I wanted to go. Both of them turned to me with surprised looks on their faces and I strutted over.

"Give me a round, please, no payment required," I compelled, looking right into the man's eyes.

"Sure," he replied. "Here you go." He handed me the circular rings for the bottles.

"Hey, what happened to not using compulsion?" Klaus objected before I could throw anything.

"I have no money," I explained, turning to look back at him. "So it's okay to use compulsion. I need to use it and those redemption rules are for you." I heard Klaus make a sound resembling to a chuckle. Finally, when I got my focus back, I started to throw.

Thanks to my Uncle John, I was good at aiming. At thirteen, John taught me how to shoot a gun and crossbow, much to my mother's dismay. She argued with John every time we went out to practice and we eventually won. She warned him not to let me get hurt or he'd have to face the wrath of a Sommers. He taught me for many years and when I finally mastered it, he stopped. I was proud to learn shooting a crossbow while Elena was off with my mom at cheerleading meets and cheerleading camp.

I got three out of the four shots. "Yes!" I cheered once I saw the last ring catch on the bottle in the very back. I turned to Klaus with his eyes wide and his mouth open. The man who ran the booth had the same expression. "So, which one do I get to pick?"

"Any one," Todd, according to the name tag, informed me, looking in awe. "Any one you want."

"Klaus, help me pick, which one?"

Klaus said, "I suggest the bird." He pointed to the small mockingbird in the middle; a few feet from the ground, but not at the very top. "It has the same doe brown eyes as you." I smiled at Klaus's opinion and turned to Todd.

"You heard the man, the bird."

Once I had the bird in hand, along with my phone, I was walking next to Klaus throughout the fair.

"That was a good shot. How were you that good?" Klaus wondered when we passed many booths.

"My uncle would teach me how to shoot a crossbow with wooden stakes, probably to protect me from vampires, as a young girl and I guess that just kind of came in while I was doing that. I dunno, really." I shrugged.

"I think," Klaus started, "that was bloody brilliant."

* * *

><p>"Thank you for tonight," I said, once we pulled up to the building I was staying in in his silver Prius. "I thought tonight was amazing and that we should definitely do it again. And yes, that is my lame way of asking you for your phone number."<p>

Klaus just smirked and pulled my phone from my hands and typed in his digits. I smiled as I heard his fingers hit the screen of my blue iPhone. When Klaus was done, he clicked on something and put the phone up to his ear. I was about to ask what he was doing when I heard a vibration coming from his pocket. _He called his phone, _I thought, instead of saying something.

"Just so you don't have to waste your time putting your number in my phone," Klaus explained, hanging up the phone and handing it back to me. We didn't say anything for a few seconds, creating a very awkward silence. Klaus started to lean in and I met him halfway across the seat.

Unlike our previous kisses, there was a kind of intimate touch to it. In other words, there was tongue, but it was still soft like the last ones. Klaus put one of his hands up to my face, pushing back my hair and I left my hands where they were. The kiss was like tasting blood for the first time; exciting. There were rushes of lust and love coursing throughout my body the longer we kissed. I was enjoying every minute of our lips connecting. Our tongues were fighting for dominance in the beginning and I let Klaus win, his mouth guided mine. Our kiss lasted for a while, which I was not complaining about. Klaus had a thousand of years of practice and it really paid off. I had only kissed four people in my life: Tyler, my first boyfriend, Antonio and Harry, but Klaus was by far the best out of all off them.

After we both decided we had had enough (nope, I wanted more, more, more), our lips disconnected. I slowly opened my eyes to find Klaus's blue ones staring right into mine, inches away from mine. His breath fanning my lips and our noses were almost touching; just barely brushing each other. The moment was perfect.

"Goodbye, Courtney," Klaus breathed, smiling.

"Goodbye," I waved giddily, getting out the car. The windows were tinted so I couldn't see if he waved to me or blew a kiss (not likely anyway) before he drove away. Watching his car pull out of the parking lot reminded me that I left my car back at the park.

"Fuck…" I whispered, looking back at the apartment complex. "Now I have to get it tomorrow."

I started walking towards the building slowly until I saw a familiar leather jacket pacing back and forth in front of the entrance. He walked like he was waiting for me impatiently and he was annoyed that I was taking so long.

"Damon."

I instantly turned away from the building and quickly walked behind a tree. I tried to think through my choices. There weren't many, but at the same time there was. I could call Katherine and tell her that Damon was there, but what would she do? She was all the way in Mystic Falls and it wasn't like she was going to blow her cover with Damon. That was pretty much a dead end for me, but it was still a choice. I could've told her that I wanted to join her, but that would be going back home, the place where I wanted to escape from in the first place anyway.

I could've gone over there and talked to Damon and told him to go back home. I wanted to stay away from Mystic Falls any chance I could and that I wouldn't be going with him. The only problem was that he was an older vampire and he could literally just drag me back. Or he could snap my neck and bring me back. Then lock me in their cellar until I pinky promised that I wouldn't leave Mystic Falls.

I could've ran as far as I could. I could have ran back to my car and drove far away to the other side of the country. I would have loved to see him track me down when I left no evidence or clues where I was going. But that would mean I would have to get a new phone and Katherine might not have picked up if it was a phone number she didn't know and Klaus was still there. Plus, my valuables were still in the apartment, like the note from my mother, the note from Damon and the pictures of Silas and Qetsiyah.

The last choice was to call Klaus. I only just left his company, but I needed to get away. I wasn't sure if he would turn back to come get me, but there was a chance he would. The other flaw was he had no place to drop me off. I could go to Antonio's but he wouldn't welcome me since he had called continuously, but I didn't pick up or return any calls of his. I also didn't want to have Klaus bring me home. I didn't want him to have the burden of me on his shoulders. But that choice only seemed like the best. So I dialed the number he left in my phone.

"Hello, Courtney. Can't get enough of me?"

I stifled back my laugh and got straight to the point. "A person of my past came here looking for me and I really need to get away from him. Can you pick me up?"

"Sure, love. I'll be back there in a few minutes," Klaus agreed. "Is he bothering you…? Because I can rip his heart out for you, darling."

"No," I denied, almost too quickly. "It's fine. He just needs to realize I'm not coming back and that he needs to go away."

"Okay, I'll be right over."

"Thank you." I hung up the phone and waited at the same parking space he dropped me off at. It wasn't a long wait for him. His Prius came into sight two minutes after we hung up the phone. I opened the door quickly and slid myself in. Damon was still pacing back and forth at the entrance, not noticing us once, doesn't even look over.

"Is that him?" Klaus pointed to Damon.

"No," I lied. "My guy went in a few minutes before you got here. I've never seen that man in my life. Let's go." I played my part well; my natural born acting skills come in handy. With my straight face and steady tone, Klaus asked me no more questions. "I've actually kind of wanted to see this Mikaelson mansion you've been bragging about."

Klaus laughed. "Yes, darling, I guess I'm taking you home."

"On the first date, you lucky boy," I added.

"First date?"

"I would count our night as one."

"Well, on the first date, I guess I am lucky. I have many mansions, but my Pennsylvania one is by far my favorites. It's simple, yet classy. Giant, yet small. I would say it is one of the best ones could have."

"I dunno," I challenged, "I've seen a mansion that was pretty badass."

"Yeah?" I nodded. "Mine is way more badass."

"Oh, we are confident, aren't we?"

"When you're Niklaus Mikaelson of course you are," Klaus replied back.

"We'll just see…"

"So, who was he?" Klaus asked after a few moments. My blood went cold for a millisecond before thinking up a lie. I knew I would have to tell Klaus about knowing the Salvatores some time, but I just didn't want him to know because he would assume that they were with Elena, track them down and then boom, he'd have Elena in his hands, ready to sacrifice. I wasn't going to let that happen.

"He was my ex-boyfriend. We broke up in a nasty way, came her with Katherine and he's been searching for me ever since." I lied smoothly and in my favor, Klaus believed it. "He didn't treat me right, kind of like my family. He was a vampire and he drank from me and then compelled me to forget. But he really does care about me and I'm afraid that I'm going to forgive him and go back."

"We can still head back so I can rip his heart out."

"No, I don't want him dead," I said. "As much as he's done to me, I don't want him dead. He's pretty much the reason why I came here and I just want to get away. He broke my trust and my heart, but I don't want him dead."

Klaus replied with a smile, "Good thing you got me."

"It's a great thing I have you."

We continued talking about random things until we got to his house. With Klaus, it was like with Damon. We could talk about anything and not get bored of each other. I'd actually listen to him and he'd actually listen to me. Then we could have a laugh about something and continue on our conversation. It was pretty amazing to be honest. Ryan, my first boyfriend, and I were like that. I was in love with him and then he died. _Animal attack. _I never got to see his body, say goodbye to him and in my heart, I still loved him.

"Here it is." I got out the car with my mouth wide open and my mind blown. It wasn't as good as Marcel's, that was for sure, but it was damn good. It wasn't as big as the Lockwood Mansion, but I loved the size just the way it was. The walls were made out of wood; it was surrounded by trees and was at least a four storey house. "It feels like home, doesn't it?" Little did I know it would eventually become my home. There was a porch with a silver grill and a little table with a closed umbrella and chairs.

"Yeah, like home," I murmured, still taking in the sight of the house. Leading up to the porch, there were two rocks as the steps and one rock, with a doormat on it, as a step to the back door. Klaus lead me through the door and into a room that had a closet, two long green carpets and wooden storage box. _For a vampire living here, there's an awful lot of wood._

"It makes me think of a happy family coming from skiing," Klaus commented, taking off his shoes and sliding them in the closet. I repeated his actions and followed him out of the small room. To the left of me, there was a dining room, with a giant table with a chandelier hanging over it and to the right of the table there was a little dresser like thing…made out of wood, of course. The hall connected to the dining room led to stairs to the right, and even farther, the living room and a hall that led to a room and farther, where I couldn't see because of the turn. To the right of me, there was a long island that ran at least thirteen feet and had _wooden _stools neatly tucked under it. The island was connected a counter that could cook on. There was a stove and in front of the island was a table you could also eat at and watch TV that was hanging from the wall. Right across from us, there was an elegant living room that had four, tall windows that showed the road and the long driveway below. The house was amazing and I couldn't wait to see more of it.

"You need to see the upstairs." Klaus grabbed my hand, with my permission, and led me up the green stairs. There were two railings, one to hold on to and one so you couldn't fall off from the top floor. On two desks, there were two computers, a bathroom, two bedrooms to my right and a bedroom to my left.

"There is mine." Klaus pointed to the bedroom to my left and led me to it. Once he opened the door, I was amazing by it. There was a king sized bed with a metal headboard and two nightstands both with lamps on either side. "I kind of designed this room," Klaus informed me. "You can sleep wherever you want."

"I wouldn't really want to sleep in here because that would be awkward, but I don't really want to sleep anywhere else," I contemplated.

"Then just sleep in here. If it's awkward, to hell with it," Klaus tried to convince me. I smiled at him and playfully asked, "Is Niklaus Mikaelson trying to get me in bed with him?"

"Maybe he is, love. But who can blame me when you're such a beautiful woman."

"You only like me because I look like your past lover, Tatia," I pointed out.

"Nope," Klaus denied. "I only like you because you are you. Tatia was exactly that. My past love and you are now currently the girl I'm taking an interest in."

"What about Katherine? Didn't you like her?"

Klaus answered, "On some level, yes. But she was a bitch and you are not. I want to get you in bed, not a woman that screwed me over."

"Can't blame her really," I commented, walking over to the bed Klaus called his. "She was trying to save herself.

"Yeah, but I wanted what I wanted. Now, will you join me?" Klaus questioned.

"Only if you promise not to try anything?"

"Of course," Klaus agreed. "I may not be Elijah but I still have class."

"Then yes, I will join you."

* * *

><p><em>I find myself next to someone that wasn't Klaus. I opened my eyes to see Stefan's sleeping face. He was breathing slowly and steadily, like I was, trying to keep my calm even though I was freaking out. Stefan was supposed to be dating Elena, not sleeping in a bed that I was sleeping in. I looked down the covers to find myself only in my underwear and bra. It was like the dream with Klaus. I was confused as hell, but what Stefan asked me made me even more confuzzled.<em>

_"Are you going to train with Bonnie today?"_

_"What?" I questioned back, looking around the room. Stefan's room looked the same like it'd always been. The only thing difference was me in his bed. The dream wasn't right. I shouldn't have been dreaming and thinking of Stefan that way, he was only my friend and he was dating my sister._

_"So Jeremy can learn how now to kill you?"_

_"Oh, yeah, I think so," I agreed, blindly. Jeremy wanted to kill me._

_Stefan whined, "Ah, that's too bad. I wanted to spend the day with you." He wrapped his arm around the top of mine and pulled me closer. I didn't fight his grip, but I did try to scoot a way a little. "What's wrong?" Stefan finally opened his eyes._

_"Nothing," I replied quickly, maybe a little too quickly. "I'm fine, just surprised, that's all."_

_"Surprised about what?"_

_I suddenly realized what I said. I had to come up with the lie, "Surprised that I'm waking up to you. I don't deserve you. You're too good."_

_"Oh, no," Stefan denied, shaking his head and putting his hand on top of my hair and my cheek. "You're perfect and I don't deserve you."_

_"Stefan, do you really care about me?"_

_"Yes, I'm in love with you," he answered._

_"What about Elena?"_

_Stefan was the one to be confused this time. "What do you mean? Elena's gone with Damon."_

_"Oh," I whispered, surprised. Huh, Damon finally got the woman he wanted. I dunno, why though. I was always the awesome and more beautiful twin out of the both of us. I mean, c'mon, Elena always was the boring twin with her cheerleading. I kept my life interesting, writing songs, drinking like there was no tomorrow and using sarcasm like it was a second language. I was so much more fun._

_"Are you disappointed?"_

_"No, I'm happy," I answered, truthfully. There was no telling why I was waking up by Stefan, but there was one thing I did know. I was enjoying it so much. More than I should have since Elena, my twin sister, was dating Stefan in real life._

_Then we kissed. With tongue._

_I got up from the bed and started walking around searching for my clothes. Once I found my shirt, I bent down to pick it up. Stefan's voice rang out, "Stop. Stay in that position." I laughed at him and decided to tease him and stood up from my position. Stefan groaned and I put on my shirt._

_"Sorry, babe, I need to stay classy," I apologized. Stefan rolled his eyes and got up out of the bed too. I watched as he went to his closet and got a shirt, but it was his sexy back muscles that captivated me. They flexed everytime he moved. I almost drooled, but I stopped the spit before it got far._

_My _boyfriend _was sexy._

_"I know you're staring, I can feel your eyes on my back. Looks who's staying classy now," Stefan commented. I suddenly turned away and continued to look for my outfit. "Why are you searching the ground for clothes when you have a closet full of your clothes right here?"_

_I suddenly stopped and looked at Stefan pointing to the closet full of hangers with women's clothing hanging off them. I lived there in the boarding house._

_"I just forgot," I said, faking silliness. "I'm just weird like that. You should know because you're dating me."_

_"Nope, not just dating," Stefan replied. "Engaged. It's almost as if you don't remember me proposing a week ago."_

_"What now?" I whispered. It was the weirdest dream I had in a while._

_"You know. Now come take a shower with me." Stefan offered his hand. Instead of denying it, I walked over to him and took his hand. I knew I shouldn't've even in a dream, but I just couldn't help myself. Stefan was one of those people you couldn't deny for the sake of you._

_"This is the most fucked up dream I've ever had," I mumbled to myself quietly as I followed Stefan to his shower._

_"What was that?"_

_"I was just saying how much I love you."_

_"I love you too, Courtney."_

_We took the promised shower together and it was actually pretty good. No getting into the details because it's weird to tell my children about that, sorry, Kaylie, but you're so young. Anyway, Stefan and I got out of the shower and got our clothes on before heading downstairs. In the kitchen, there was Elena and Damon making breakfast together._

_"There they are!" Elena called to Damon, who was flipping pancakes while she was mixing the batter. It was even weirder because Elena and Damon were living in the same house as Stefan and I. I wondered how Jenna and Jeremy were reacting to that._

_"Hey," Stefan greeted, hand still in mine. "We really need this breakfast." I nodded with Stefan, deciding not to say anything. Stefan and I sat down at the table that had hot pancakes waiting to be eaten. In a pitcher, there was blood and a few glasses surrounding the pitcher of red liquid. It accured to me that we were all vampires since there was no water or orange juice. I poured myself a nice glass of the blood without a second thought."How was the honeymoon?"_

_I almost spit the little blood that was in my mouth and dropped cup while Elena answered Stefan. "It was actually pretty amazing. Who knew Damon was romantic?"_

_"All my past girlfriends. I can be really romantic, Elena."_

_"I know that now." Both Elena and Damon turned around to kiss each other quickly on the lips. "When do you guys decide to get married?"_

_"We don't know yet, really," Stefan answered, helping himself to pancakes. "We're thinking after the search for the cure."_

_A cure? For what?_

_"Right, darling?"_

_It was my turn to talk, so I lied smoothly. "Yes, this is taking up time and there's no reason to add to this right now. So, after the cure is found, we're thinking of it."_

_"Oh, that's good," Elena said. She was lying, I could tell. "Well, eat up. We didn't make pancakes so you could just stare at them."_

* * *

><p><em>We arrived at our family cabin and saw Bonnie and Jeremy talking to each other. They looked happy with each other, talking about whatever. I had a feeling they were really comfortable around each other. It'd never been like that in real life, but in the dream, they seemed unusually great around each other. It wasn't like they didn't like each other in real life, they just had never really talked.<em>

_"Hey, Bons!" Elena called out, waving. Bonnie smiled at all of us, but Jeremy sighed and got up from his position. "Jere, are you ready?"_

_"Nope," he answered quickly._

_"Are you okay?" I questioned. I wasn't sure why we were here or why Jeremy was acting so cold towards us, but I needed to make sure that Jeremy was okay. Brother or not brother, I loved Jeremy even if I wasn't really his sister and I wasn't going to hurt him in any way like I did when I left them in Mystic Falls._

_"No," he snapped, walking into the cabin. "I want to take a stake and shove it in your chest." I stopped following him and looked at Stefan. He gave me a look of support and tugged me into a chair. I slowly sat down, think of what Jeremy just said. Did he really hate vampires that much that he wanted to kill his own sisters._

_"Oh," Elena said briskly._

_"That's why, Jeremy, you need to find your love for the both of them," Bonnie explained. "We'll start with Courtney first. Elena, Stefan, Damon, I'm going to need you to step out of the cabin." They all answered with a yes and Stefan kissed me on the cheeks._

_"Elena," I heard Damon say from outside the door. "I need to take care of something, but I'll be right back."_

_"Okay," Elena replied._

_"You ready?" Bonnie asked me. I nodded at her and stopped listening to Elena and Damon's conversation. "Okay, hold hands and close your eyes."_

_I put my hands out for Jeremy to take. He took them like they were on fire and he had a scowl on his face. He must have really hated me to look like that. I wasn't sure what was causing those sudden feelings. Was it because I left? No. It had to be something that applied to both Elena and I because he didn't like her either._

_"Jeremy, I want you to think back to the happy memory of Courtney and you together. Before she was a vampire," Bonnie ordered, closing her eyes, too. "I want you to think too, Courtney." I thought back to the time he held me when I found out Ryan was dead. We bonded that night our relationship got a big stronger. I realized how much I needed Jeremy in my life and what I would do if he wasn't in it._

_"Jeremy, what are you thinking of?"_

_"The time I was with Courtney after she found out her boyfriend died," Jeremy answered softly._

_"Me, too," I said, the happiest I had been in the dream._

_"How did you feel, Jeremy?"_

_"I loved my sister. I loved the feeling of her in my arms and making her feel better. All I was thinking of was how to make her feel better. Then we started talking about random things off the topic of Ryan and I felt even better," Jeremy explained. He was feeling the love for me again. "But now my sister is gone," he added, much to my dismay. "She's replaced by a monster." His grip tightened on my hands, causing me to pull them away. I opened my eyes to Jeremy scowling with angry eyes._

_"Oh, Jeremy," Bonnie sighed. Apparently, that happened a lot. "Courtney, we'll try again tomorrow. Can you send Elena in?"_

_"Sure." I hastily got up from the couch and was out the door. "Elena!" I called once I got out of the door. The tension in there was so palpable, I thought I was going suffocate. "Elena! Elena!" She wasn't around in the front, so I decide to look around the back. There, I heard the voices of Elena and Stefan._

_"Ugh, she's calling me," Elena's voice groaned._

_"I know, I wish they would just leave us alone just once. But I promise, once we find the cure, we can get out of here." I saw Elena in Stefan's arms. The fuck? What kind of fucked up shit is this?_

_"Thank you for finding this for me."_

_"Anything for the girl I love," Stefan replied. OH, HELL NAH!_

_"Oh, Stefan, I love you."_

_Then they kissed each other passionately._

_I gritted out, with my teeth clenched coming out of my hiding spot, "You self-serving, sadistic, vindictive, malicious little bitch."_

**Hey guys! Fast update, I know, you're welcome. totalRandum wanted the update soon and her first conversation with Klaus. I know things kind of are moving fast with them and I didn't plan for it to happen like that, but I kind of just wrote it like that. So thanks for reading and commenting.**

**katherineismikaelson**

**P.S. Her outfits are on Polyvore and if you go to my profile, you'll see it. Thanks!**


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

I opened my eyes to see Klaus's blue ones staring at me. I smiled at him and he smiled back. We just stared at each other for the longest time until my phone started ringing. I moved to get it, but Klaus put his hand out to stop me from doing anything. So, instead of going against his wishes, I continued to lay there with Klaus.

"It's so peaceful," I commented after the phone stopped.

Klaus replied quietly, "That it is. Did you get a good sleep last night?"

"After you stopped tickling me," I giggled.

"What can I say, I'm more fun than I look," Klaus laughed. I actually laughed, not giggled, along with him. Klaus started to tickle me on my stomach like he did last night. To be honest, when we got to his house, it was pretty amazing.

After I agreed to stay in his bed with him, Klaus lent me one of his shirts to wear for the night. I was about to fall asleep, but then Klaus started tickling me. Eventually, that lead to a pillow fight, vampire style, and that lead to hide and seek. When Klaus was energized, he was like a small child. You could play with him all night and not get bored once. The hide and seek game ended in the basement, where we ended up snogging like nobody's business and I fell asleep singing with him. (Not that Klaus was a bad singer, but he wasn't going to make it in the X-Factor.) I was sure he carried me up to the bed and that's where we got our rest.

"What are you doing today?"

Klaus sighed and turned his body to face the ceiling. "I dunno, really. I thought I was going to torture some information out of vampires." I grimaced. "But that's not what a good person would do."

"Exactly," I praised. "So, are we just going to have a day to ourselves?"

"Apparently," Klaus answered back, turning his body back to me. We didn't say anything just stared at each other. Klaus and I kind of had that relationship; where we didn't have to say anything to each other to feel something. We could talk about anything, or just say nothing and stare. It was kind of beautiful in a way.

"I have to get back to my apartment," I said, getting up from the bed. I heard Klaus groan behind me. "I just have to get something on. Just calm down."

"Okay, I'll drive you."

"Then we can go…where?"

Klaus admitted, "I don't know." He got up from the bed and I slipped off the shirt to leave me only in my bra and underwear. "But what I do know is that I like the view." I turned around to see Klaus staring at me with a devious smirk on his face.

"I can say the same thing," I retorted back, staring at his bare stomach. It wasn't like Klaus was disgustingly ripped, but the man was very fit. Just for a laugh, Klaus flexed playfully making me chuckle and put on my dress. "Now, get a shirt on _Mister Muscle Man _so we can get going."

"Do you have any idea where Katerina has gone?" Klaus asked me as I opened the door to the apartment. It was kind of stupid to leave my apartment open all day and night, but I was just that careless as a vampire. Human Courtney never would have left the apartment without a purse, much less without the keys. Then I left the keys in the SUV back at the park.

"Second rule of redemption: Get over any past wrongs," I said. "Katherine did something that upset you and you got your revenge on her family. She's heartbroken, so get over. Move on with your life. You have me and you're going to have your family once I convince you to un-dagger them all and find Elijah."

Klaus mumbled as he sat on the couch, "Whatever."

"Good, now I'm going to get some clothes on, be right back."

ELENA'S POV (The night before)

"Stefan, this is serious. I messed it up with Jeremy and I want Anna out of his life," I said to him as we lay on his bed. It was after Jere and I had the fight that I wanted to talk to Stefan. He would listen to me and not criticize me like Bonnie or Caroline would. It was either him or Damon who would give me the advice that would save me. Damon's advice wasn't as logical or my way as I wanted, but it was still good. Stefan actually looked at my side of the situation though and thought of the goods. "Do you think I did the right thing?"

"Elena, I think you did the right thing for you," Stefan answered back to me, dragging his finger down my arm as he held me. "Jeremy would have been crushed if you let him keep his memories, but I think you should have told him so he wouldn't have reacted like this."

"See, the thing, Stefan, is that I'm not her. I can't make him feel better like Courtney can."

"Elena, what were you going to do? Let him forget for the rest of his life?"

I actually was going to let him go without that feeling of death for his first girlfriend. I hated seeing the pain on his face with my parents, I couldn't face it if he had even more pain when he knew Vicki was a vampire and was killed. Then Courtney left, which was my fault and made him even more sad, and she wasn't there to make him feel like it was okay. Jeremy hated me and I couldn't do anything about it, not without Courtney.

I had to lie to him. "No, Stefan, I was not going to let Jeremy live in the dark for the rest of his life. I was going to tell him."

"Just like how you were going to tell Courtney?"

"Stefan Salvatore," I called out, sitting up, "Are you getting flippant with me?"

Stefan held his hands up in surrender. "I'm just saying."

"Well, stop," I scolded playfully, leaning back into his arms. "You're supposed to be on my side."

"I am on your side," Stefan claimed. He brought his lips closer to mine and repeated quietly, "I am so on your side." Our lips met in a soft kiss. It didn't last long, due to Damon's entrance.

"Sorry to interrupt the fireworks," he apologized when his head popped in the room.

"No you're not."

Damon ignored Stefan. "But, I got my neck snapped last night."

"What?" I sat up from my position. "Who snapped it?"

"Our little friend, that looks like Elena," Damon answered vaguely.

"Katherine?" Stefan guessed. I nodded along with him.

Damon looked annoyed and waved his hand, saying, "No, Courtney."

"Courtney…" My voice trailed off. If Courtney could snap Damon's neck that meant she had inhumane power which meant she was…one of them. "A vampire."

"Bingo." Stefan and I turned to look at each other with surprised looks on our faces. Damon started to walk out the door, but he turned around with his finger pointed up. "And I just happened to look for tonight," Damon added.

"What? And you didn't warn me before?" Stefan demanded. He almost sounded angrier than I was. Although Courtney was his friend too, she was my sister and I should have been acting like that, but I wasn't that angry at Damon and I let it show.

"Sorry, I just wanted to find her and I didn't want anyone weighing me down. I didn't know you really wanted to go that bad," Damon excused. I shook my head at him and scoffed. Damon and I went total friends at all, but we, on some level, were _buddies. _But I couldn't help but expect the worst from him. Damon did a lot of bad things and made horrible decisions and that didn't really surprise me one bit.

"Really, Damon? She's my sister," I said. "Don't you think I would have liked to find her too?"

"Elena, I'm sorry, but I just really needed to find her?"

"So you could snap her neck, too?" I challenged.

"No," Damon denied, not getting upset one bit. "So I could ask her what she meant."

"What do you mean?" Stefan spoke up.

Damon sighed. "When she came into the living room, she seemed alright. But right before she snapped my neck, when I asked her what she was doing back, she told me she was avenging a friend."

"Do you think Katherine?" I asked.

"No, it was definitely Courtney, she had short hair and that little mark just above her lip," Damon described. I felt a little guilty, I never noticed a little mark above Courtney's lip even and I had known her my whole life. "She was definitely Court."

"Do you think she was talking about avenging Katherine?"

"No, but the weird thing was that there was so emotion. Like I had killed someone that happened to be very important to her," Damon said. We all exchanged thoughtful looks with each other, but none of us said anything to suggest an idea.

Breaking the silence, Stefan questioned, "Did you find anything?"

"No," Damon replied. Katherine compelled the guards not to say anything about them being there. I think I saw her, but then she suddenly disappeared. And didn't go back to her apartment."

"So, Katherine is living with her?"

"Katherine is the one who picked her up, right?"

"Yeah, but I thought Katherine would have dropped her off or killed her," Stefan guessed.

"Apparently she didn't."

I didn't get it. Katherine sounded horrific from the descriptions Stefan and Damon gave me. She sounded vindictive and manipulative and self-serving and sadistic, everything Courtney wasn't. Courtney must have really been hurt by my betrayal to go with Katherine. Even if she was compelled when she heard about Katherine, she remembered when Damon told her to remember. She knew that Katherine wasn't the best person, actually the worst, and that she might have turned on her the second Katherine didn't need her.

"Elena," Damon started, making my head turn towards him instead of my hands. "How did you get here so quick?"

"What do you mean?"

He looked confused for a second before waving me off and saying, "Nevermind." I nodded at him and turned to Stefan again.

"This isn't right. Everything is so messed up," I sobbed. "Courtney's a _vampire _and she's with _Katherine. _Stefan, my life is falling apart. Oh, and on top of that, she hates me straight to the core."

"Elena, she could never hate you," Stefan assured me.

"Then why did she leave?"

"Because she was hurt that you didn't tell her at first. And when she found out, you compelled her," Damon snarled from the doorway.

"Your presence isn't needed anymore," Stefan growled back, holding me protectively.

"All I'm saying is that she shouldn't have done that," Damon replied. "Goodnight, Elena." Damon walked out the room and closed the door behind him. He was right. I shouldn't have done that to her, even though I thought I was protecting her. It was better if she knew all along. I was just being a bad sister.

"Don't listen to Damon," Stefan told me, kissing the top of my head. "He's just mad that she's mad at him and he needed someone to blame. Anyone but himself."

"Stefan, what if she's doing Katherine's bidding? What if she's dead?"

"She's not dead," Stefan responded. "Courtney is a lot of things, but weak is not one of them. She would only do her own bidding."

"Katherine could have hurt her. She turned her into a vampire, what else has she done? Courtney now has to face eternal life and do you know whose fault it is? It's mine."

"It's not your fault," Stefan denied.

"Yes," I whined back, a few tears falling. "It really is. I was the one who didn't tell her, then she found out, wrote a note and then she left…with Katherine. I am the source of everyone's problems. Especially hers. She'll hate me."

Stefan repeated, "It's not your fault."

"Then whose is it?" I yelled.

"It's nobody's."

"It has to be somebody's and that somebody is me! Stefan, you know it!"

"It was her choice to leave," Stefan told me calmly. I tangled myself out of his arms and grabbed my bag.

"So now you're blaming this on her? No, Stefan admit it, it was my fault. Goodnight." I left his room before he could say anything else to me. It was so true, it was my fault. I was the problem and I should have never lied to her. In my sight, as I walked down the stairs, Damon came into view. He was drinking from a glass, a kind of orange liquid. At least it wasn't blood.

"Lovers' spat?"

"Shut up," I growled walking right past him. I opened the door and left the boarding house that was shelter to vampires and I didn't look back. I made it to my car by the time I saw Stefan standing at his doorstep calling my name. But I ignored him and kept driving.

MY POV (YES, COURTNEY'S, MY CHILDREN)

I had gotten on the dress I wanted to wear on my day out with Klaus. It was a red and black dress with a cut out in the back and black heels with black bottoms. Red silk went over the red skirt that was connected to the black top. Around the waist of the dress, there was a black belt with a gold lining. I found in Katherine's closet, a black bones clutch that had a gold skull on the top as an opening. I slid my phone, money and keys in the clutch before heading back to Klaus.

He said I looked beautiful and we were off to the park so I could pick up my car. On the way, which was pretty short, I talked to Klaus about my past boyfriends. He told me that what happed to Ryan was horrible, but probably a vampire, just as I suspected. Then I told him about Tyler and how he hurt me, but for some reason I forgave the bastard. Klaus laughed along with me when I told him about the first time we tried. It wasn't awkward for me to tell Klaus, he laughed too. I didn't feel the need to hold back anything about myself with him. I felt fine bearing the embarrassing and gross details of my life to Klaus.

When we found the car, he suggested we should just stay and enjoy nature. Instead of sitting down and talking, Klaus ended up compelling an artist to give him his easel and convinced me to let him draw me. Sure, I had to stay still for hours, but it was worth it. When he was finished, I took a look at the breathtaking picture. It took away my breath and I was a vampire. Klaus had captured more details of my face with a pencil in a few hours than I had caught in the mirror in all my life. I never noticed there was a scar above my lip, even though I knew I cut myself when I was a small child or that I had a small beauty mark under my eye, unlike Elena. It went a little like this:

I repeated again, "Klaus, can I move?"

"No, I'm almost done. Stop your whining," he retorted back, still focusing on his drawing. People had been watching from behind him and smiled with wide lips that reached their eyes. I almost smiled myself, but I kept the neutral _Mona Lisa _expression. What I wasn't expecting was the drawing to be so good.

"Klaus, my neck is starting to cramp from this angle."

"Be quiet for a second," he laughed.

"Klaus," I dragged out, trying to move my lips as little as possible. "I don't wanna do—"

Klaus interrupted me, "Done." He stood up from his seat with his hands open pointing at the masterpiece, but with the pencil still in hand.

"Finally," I scoffed. I let my face move, uncrossed my legs and stood up from the bench that was making my butt numb. When I was all stretched out, I made my way to Klaus who was holding the canvas out for me to take. I softly took the picture of his hands and turned it to face me. I stared at it in awe for seconds before finally breathing out and congratulating Klaus for his work. It was truly amazing and flawless.

"You like it?"

"I love it!" Before jumping into his arms to hug him, I set the canvas back down on the art easel. Klaus hugged me back with a chuckle. Once we parted from our hug, Klaus kissed me and we heard a few sighs from around us. We apparently had an audience. I thanked the artist for using his easel and we were off with our new drawing.

So I didn't have to carry it around everywhere, we stopped back at the car to drop off the canvas. Around five o'clock, Klaus's phone started ringing and he was told that he needed to attend a costume party. Of course he offed gentleman-y to take me to the party with him. We argued to what we should have worn, but in the end, I won. I wanted to be a pirate couple, so there we were, at a costume store. I was minding my own business when she popped up out of nowhere.

"So, you're hanging out with my killer, huh?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin and turned to see Cassie leaning on the hanger rack. She had a smirk on her little prissy face. "You almost killed me…again."

"So, you turned human when you were a vampire," she guessed, "that's interesting…"

"Cassie, you have to go," I warned, quietly looking around.

"Darling, who are you talking to?" Klaus asked, popping his head up from across the room. He knew I would be able to hear him, but the customers next to him looked at him like he was crazy. I waved him off with a forced smile and pointed to the bathroom. Klaus nodded to me hesitantly, but with a confused expression playing on his face.

So once again, I headed to the bathroom where I was going to talk to another ghost that came up. It was actually getting annoying. Witches and vampires and werewolves were bad enough but seeing the dead, that was freakish. It didn't make any sense that I could because there was nothing special about me, only that I was very easy to lie to.

I didn't even check the stalls to make sure no one could hear me before I bombed Cassie with questions, "What are you doing here? Why did I turn into a human again when I was a vampire? How can I see you? Sorry, but I like him and there's nothing you can do about it. Klaus is actually a very nice person."

"That is until he kills you," Cassie shot back. I rolled my eyes at her. _Klaus will never get rid of me. I'm the sunshine in his life. _"I don't know how you can see me; we've been through this before. I'm here to see what you're up to. I mean, obviously shopping, but for what?" Her smile grew bigger as she continued talking, but it faltered a bit when she answered my next question, "And I truly have no idea why you turned human, why you see me or why you're drawing pictures of Silas and Qetsiyah."

My eyes widened. "You know about those?"

"Duh, I'm a ghost," she said. "I have ghost intuition."

"Okay, what the actual fuck?" I questioned. "I feel like I've heard that before. Or at least something like that."

"Whatever, but what are you doing?"

"Tonight I'm going to a costume party with Klaus," I answered flippantly. "You have a problem with that?"

She held her hands up in surrender. "Sorry, I'm just looking out for my girl."

"You sound like Valerie."

"I know," she replied back smugly. _Awkward._ references were my favorites. "So, piarates?"

"I just happen to like Johnny Depp a lot and Jack Sparrow is one of my favorite characters," I made up an excuse, "so if you bitch off for a little."

"'Bitch off?'"

I sighed, "I got tired of using fuck off."

Once again, her hands were up. "I can't help it if your insults don't make a sliver of sense."

"Well, you can bitch off about them at least," I snapped back.

"Okay, I'm—"

A voice interrupted Cassie from a stall asking, "Who are you talking to?" The pale pink stall door opened to reveal the one and only Jenna who I killed yesterday. She wasn't looking good; actually, she looked really beautiful. Like she just stepped out of a photoshoot, but she looked like the vampires in the tomb. Almost desiccated. It surprised me to see her alive (undead or however ghosts looked when they first die) but at the same time it didn't. She was dead. Or was she?

"Jenna, how can you not see her?" I wondered calmly. Jenna just stared at me with an _ARE YOU SHITTING ME? _expression on her face. I looked to Cassie for help but all she whispered was, "I don't think she's dead."

"What are you talking about?" Jenna asked me.

"You aren't dead?"

"No, the fuck are you talking 'bout?" The nice girl I met yesterday was gone and she was replaced by this cranky girl that didn't look like she was to be fucked with.

"I'm talking about Cassie, the girl right next to me? Can't ghosts see other ghosts?" My voice faltered as I continued talking about the ghosts. The expression from before was still on Jenna's face. The only difference in everything was Cassie disappeared like a little bitch.

"Jenna, are you dead?"

"Yes, you killed me," she snapped back. "But I think I'm a vampire. Like you. I was drank from then left for dead in the middle of the hallway, then I wake up a morgue in one of those slide-y thingys and next thing I know, I'm drinking the blood of a mortician. When I go back home, my boyfriend is screaming at me to stay away and throwing beer bottles at me. Then I killed him because I needed his blood." A few tears slipped out her eyes and fell to the floor. A bigass bubble of guilt filled me as I watched the young girl cry over her dead boyfriend who she killed. But the sad act didn't last long; she looked up at me with livid eyes and grit, "You did this to me."

When she lunged for me, I did the only thing I thought I could do; I stuck my hand in her chest and pulled out her heart. I had to tighten my grip on the heart as I watched the light leave her eyes and fall to the ground. It was my turn to cry. I dropped the heart in the sink and bent down to see the damage I had done. In the cliché movies, her dead face would be one last tear rushing down her cheek, but the only thing I saw was a mortified expression stuck on her face. I had killed Jenna…twice in two days. She didn't even do anything to me; well, actually attempted and succeed, I meant.

I was turning into a Katherine and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I had killed the girl, caused her to be a vampire which lead to killing her boyfriend and then I killed her again in a bathroom when I could have handled it the right way without killing her. It was like a reflex to push my hand into her chest and grip her heart. It was so fast, I couldn't process what I was doing, and it was too late for her and for me. I was all up on Klaus's ass about becoming a good little vampire and there I was, slaughtering other vampires.

I quickly washed my hands and was careful there was no blood. Then I staged myself perfectly for a scream. There were suddenly people crowding in the bathroom to see what the fuss was all about.

I sobbed to the people who came in. "I came in here and when I opened the stall, she fell out and I found her heart in the sink." Klaus rushed to my side and pulled me into his arms. I let the fake and true tears fall freely as men pushed passed us to look at the body.

"Come 'ere," Klaus whispered, pulling me from the scene. On the way to the dressing rooms, Klaus grabbed the few things I was looking at. When we slipped in, and Klaus asked me, "What happened in there?"

"She just lunged after me, Klaus," I responded vaguely, tears still coming out of my eyes. "I couldn't stop it. She was mad at me because I accidentally turned her and I just pulled out her heart. I didn't know what to do."

"Darling, don't worry. We'll get through this." Klaus held me to his chest and stroked m hair. "Now, are these what you wanted?"

"Klaus, I feel out of place with all these people," I whispered, looking at the elegant gowns and tuxedos everyone had around us, and we were dressed like pirates. It was kind of awkward too, they were all vampires that were experienced and knew Klaus and didn't take a glance at me, who was standing awesomely by his side. I was actually a little offended by their attitudes. When they did look at me, it was the Ugh, she's his whore kind of look. I was going to bust their asses about it, but I had to be a good role model for someone that was more than 900 years older than me. It was all good.

When we left the store, we kind of stole our costumes. Klaus compelled the store clerk to take any and all video camera tapes and burn them, along with the store. I disagreed but Klaus didn't take back his compulsion and I was too weak to override it with mine. Then we drove back to my apartment, seeking any other clothing I could wear to the party. I found some gold jeans that went with my golden and brown corset. It was nice outfit when it came all together. I was wearing a jacket over it that looked pirate-y enough to me and some lace-up black boots. Klaus agreed that I looked badass.

He really didn't need anything from the costume store because he had a few pirate clothing articles at his house. I was impressed that he actually kept the clothes of his victims, even centuries after he's killed them. Disturbing, I know, but it was interesting too. Klaus was a vampire/human killer and a collector.

We got to the party around eight o'clock when Klaus promised that we would only be in the party for at least a few minutes. I was actually excited until I saw how many vampires were going to be in there. It wasn't that I was intimidated by them, but I just didn't really like other vampires and sarcasm was my only defense. But I had to admit, it was actually a classy party. Of course there was those people who were out on the lawn puking from alcohol intake or making out with a boy or a girl like they were going to practice reproduction right there and then.

I walked in on Klaus's arm proud and fearless. It was loud and a bit smelly, from sweaty bodies dancing, but it was manageable. I was glad that Klaus promised that we'd be getting out of there quick because I had the sudden urge to go back to Klaus's house and watch Friends while checking up on Katherine and cuddling with Klaus.

"I told you we should have worn something a little more classy," Klaus whispered back.

"Are you saying pirates aren't classy?"

Klaus smiled at people while he answered me. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

"Fuck you for thinking that," I growled quietly as I stared at the blood whores trying to please their vampires. That reminded me of what Damon did for Caroline. That little shit. I swear to god, that tittybong will get it when I get home.

"Are you offering?" Klaus tilted his head down to me so he could smirk. I smiled back and winked flirtatiously.

"Yes, but we have to get out of here quick if you want some.

"Don't worry, love, we'll be out of here just as soon as I talk to someone," Klaus assured me. "Now, go mingle!" Klaus gently shoved me in the direction of some girls dressed up as princesses. I flipped him off and he playfully put his fist up to me. I rolled my eyes and continued on to the Disney's.

"Hello, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella," I greeted solemnly.

"Hello, whore," 'Aurora' said back to me, causing the other bitches to giggle. "What are you going to do? Rob me?" I could tell she was imitating a British accent by the way she moved her mouth in an awkward way.

"Are your lips having a seizure?" I asked politely. Asshole Aurora moved her hand to her lips and gasped. I easily didn't smile at her reaction but the inside me was laughing like the Joker.

"Shut up. Go back to your ship and sink," Bitch Belle hissed at me.

"What are you going to do?" I challenged. "Sing me to death?"

"No," Cunt Cinderella spoke up. "I'm going to suck you dry."

"Not before I snap that ugly little neck of yours," I snapped back, still keeping my undying (just like my life) cool.

"Back off, you got nothing. You're outnumbered. No one wants you here anyway," Asshole Aurora said. I was about to bitch slap the whore when I realized I couldn't for Klaus, but if they kept it up, I was going to make them wish they died without vampire blood when they had the chance. Verbal abuse was very handy in my case. Coming up with insults was literally my talent, along with sarcasm.

"Bitch," I scoffed, waving her off. They all stared at me with wide eyes. "I could take you down like that." I snapped my fingers in their faces, using my wicked, newly acquired speed. "So don't get all up in my face thinking you're all that. Let's remember whose the badass pirate her and whose a prissy princess whose about to loose her head."

"Bum pirate doesn't have her sword," Cunt Cinderella pointed out with a smile.

"My hands is all I need to take down pussies." I smiled back at them. I was impressed with Bitch Belle. She was kind of like me. While Cunt Cinderella and Asshole Aurora had scowls on their faces, Bitch Belle was still keeping it calm. I always knew Beauty and the Beast was one of the bests.

"When I get Prince Phillip over here, I'mma be drinking your blood," Bitch Belle threatened.

"Wrong prince, you dumbass. Yours is prince is Prince Adam. The beast, dumbass?" Bitch Belle looked away in embarrassment and I found another flaw of hers. "Oh, that explains it, you're a blonde. Wait, in what world is Belle blonde?"

"Fuck you," Cunt Cinderella snapped, holding Bitch Belle.

"I'm not gay, so no," I denied. Asshole Aurora flipped me off.

"Asshole Aurora," I gasped. "Flipping me the finger was very lady-like of you. And here I thought you'd be a classy enemy."

"Cussing isn't lady-like either," Bitch Belle called out, recovering from her embarrassment.

"I'm a Bum Pirate, I don't have to be classy. I just have to know how to kill," I retorted back, looking around for Klaus. Believe me, wining the fight against three dumbasses was very entertaining for me, but I was ready to watch the classy versions of the princesses. Disney was my weakness, what could I say? "Lucky for you, I know how to."

"We were turned in 1505. We can kick your ass," Bitch Belle shot back.

I laughed loudly. "Dayum, ya'll old." They all flipped me off. No wonder their princes left them alone, they got no class whatsoever. "Even if you did, my homie will kick your ass so bad, you'd wish you were locked in a tomb."

"Yeah, and who is your 'homie?'"

"An Original," I answered, ready for their reactions.

Cunt Cinderella scoffed. "Yeah, like you got an Original. I mean, look at you... You're pathetic."

I ignored her. "And guess what? He's the big one. Klaus Mikaelson."

They all stared at me and then burst out laughing. Another reason the princes left: they laugh like animals.

"Sure, laugh." I watched them as tears welled up in their eyes. Luckily, they weren't laughing long when I spotted Klaus heading my way. He had a devious smirk on his face. "Oh, lookie and here he comes now. Klaus!" I called. He zipped over in a flash, beckoning to my call.

"Darling?"

All the princesses stared at Klaus, any sign of humor fading from their faces. I almost wanted to laugh myself. Klaus flashed them his heart stopping (see what I did there?) smile at the three and then turned back to me.

"I was just telling my friends how I know you," I explained cheerfully. Then I turned to them. "See, Klaus Mikaelson in the flesh."

"Hello, loves," Klaus greeted with that smile.

"H-hello," Bitch Belle stuttered in awe.

"Are you ready to go?" I asked, Klaus returning his attention to me.

"Yes."

We turned to go, finally. I was ready to get away from all the drama and ugliness of those wenches. I wasn't sure why they were let in the party in the first place, but the princes had some seriously bad tastes in women. They looked like something I use to scrap off the bottom of my shoe when I walked near a swamp.

"Wait!" One of the girls called from behind us. We both turned back to them, me with a bitch-slapping grin on and Klaus with an annoyed, forced smile. "Why don't you stay for a little longer, Klaus?" Cunt Cinderella suggested, totally ignoring me. "You only just got here."

"Yes, that would be amazing," Bitch Belle said, nodding.

"I would love it," Asshole Aurora added, with a flirtatious smile. I had enough of them.

"Fuck it," I whispered. I snapped all three of their necks in less than a second. Apparently, I was quick because even Klaus was taken by surprise. The music stopped and the spotlight (literally) was on me. Everyone was staring like I had did the unspeakable. "Yeah," I called out, soaking up the attention. "I will kickass. I'm a pirate, that's what I do. And there's plenty more where that came from."

"That was my princess!" Prince Adam called, pushing through the crowd with the two other princes. "What the hell?"

"I think I did you a favor," I said, smiling proudly. "She was a bitch." I turned away from them just to turn back and motion from Prince Philip and Bitch Belle. "I think they had something going on so, yeah, I did you a favor."

Klaus gladly held out his arm for me to take as we walked out the mansion with class.

"What happened to being the good guy? No killing?" Klaus asked.

"Sometimes people deserve it, Klaus. That's when you can serve up revenge," I replied.

"Cheers to that."

My phone started ringing as we got closer to the car.

"Hello?" I answered smugly.

"Yeah," Katherine's voice rang through the phone. "I think I just killed your best friend."

**Hello! I know this update is short as my cat's shits, but I don't know. I just wasn't feeling it. I realized that this is boring without everything going on. So, I have a few questions for you concerning a few areas of this. First questions is for point of views. I felt kind of bad for switches point of views on you because that's not really professional so I dunno? Here are the options.**

**When I do switch from Courtney's, should do third person so I can get everyone's feelings back in Mystic Falls and not just Elena's. Or should I just keep it the way I have it and only know Elena's feelings when I switch. ****_Or _****should I just keep it to Courtney's point of view.**

**Then I was thinking about updating. I wanted to update everyday for you guys because you're so supportive and I want to please you since you guys are demanding (nicely) that I should update fast. I could update everyday, but the chapters would be short, or I could update every other day and the chapters would be longer. What do you guys want?**

**Guest- (if you're still reading) I'm sorry, I don't really like Haley to be in this either, but for the sake of the plot, I have to put that in there. It wouldn't make sense for Elijah to have a love interest in Courtney if Klaus gets her preggers and she has both Stefan and Klaus on her arm, so the Haley thing needs to stay in. BUT! If I find a way around it, I'll try to put it in there. Is that better? Wow, that actually sounded bitchy and sarcastic. Do you like it that way, Guest? That sounded even worse, but I just want to know how you feel about that, now that I've touched on that topic.**

**So, I'll try to update soon for you guys. The update time will probably be two days tops because I love this story. And should I start on another story, maybe for Supernatural or just stick to this? Or even do another story for The Vampire Diaries because I do have some pre-written stuff for it? I bombed you with a lot of questions in this author's notes, sorry.**

**Okay, I'll try to do a long update tomorrow.**

**katherineismikaelson**


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

**Hello guys! Chapter ten! So I guess when I change point of views from Courtney's, I guess I'm doing third person so I can get everyone's feelings, not only Elena's. Thanks for Aiphira's input. So, I guess I'll just wait for other thoughts for those other questions and I hope that Guest saw what I had to say. So, here's chapter ten which might be pretty much focusing on what's happening back in Mystic Falls. And, I know that some stories are so accurate on the lines, but I'm not going to do that. I'm sorry, I just have to watch the episode on Netflix, remember what they just said, pause it and then write it down on Word and I really don't feel like I need to do that. I'll just occasionally pull lines from the story and then just throw them in there. Okay, read on, my lovelies.**

"I have to go back, Klaus. Caroline is dead," I argued, packing my clothes up in a gray messenger bag in the apartment I had shared with Katherine. Klaus didn't want me to go back to Katherine in Mystic Falls (I didn't actually tell him where I lived) where my sister was because he knew he wouldn't be able to follow me. If Klaus was around my human sister who was a doppelganger, he might not have the guts to resist the urge to kill her and use her for the sacrifice even though he was trying to be a good person. I knew Klaus could hold off for only so long if he was there around Elena. Yesterday, Klaus had asked me if I wanted to be his girlfriend and I happily said yes even though I knew it wasn't going to work. Klaus was hunting my sister and I missed my home. It wasn't like I was going to walk back into school, march straight up to Elena with Klaus on my arm and say, "Hey, Elena. This is the guy that wants to sacrifice you. Oh, and we're dating." That wasn't going to work for me and then Damon would come out of nowhere and pull out my heart for putting Elena in danger. Klaus Mikaelson and Courtney Gilbert are not meant to be, even though we want to make it work.

"No, don't leave me," Klaus whined back. He put a hand on the bra I was packing and pulled it up to his puppy dog expression. I smiled at him and groaned. Klaus was sexy and very attractive, but his sad expression was the cutest thing I had ever laid my eyes on. "I need you here."

"Klaus, say your best friend Marcellus was in need of you right now. What would you do?"

"I would stay here with you," Klaus answered truthfully. I groaned again and stole back my red bra. "Courtney, I'm not going to be able to do this whole good person thing without you."

"Klaus, yes you will be able to," I encouraged. "And I'll only be gone for a little, a week at the most. Please, I need to do this for her. I owe it to her because I left her at home with all those boys and no one to talk to."

"Courtney- what's your middle name?"

I answered, "Ella."

"Then Courtney Ella Gilbert, you cannot leave me like this," Klaus pleaded, putting his hands together. "We have so much more to do together. Please stay with me…"

I started to whine back to him, "Klaus…you know I can't do that."

"Yes, you can and I'll make sure you don't regret it," Klaus pushed.

I was torn. I wanted to stay with Klaus and be with him for a little longer before saying goodbye to him for good and going back home, but at the same time I wanted to be there for Caroline when she was transitioning or already a vampire. The thing was, I had a third option. I wanted to just run away from all of that and start anew. I didn't want to be caught up in the doppelganger drama anymore even though it was going to be challenging to escape it. But Klaus's reaction made my decision for me.

"Okay, I'll stay."

MYSTIC FALLS, VIRGINIA

ONE DAY EARLIER

Katherine was confused. Stefan was dating Elena, she was sure of it. She saw it with her own eyes, but Elena and Damon had something going on. She wasn't one for feelings really, she just wanted to look out for herself, but when she kissed Damon on the Gilbert's porch, she felt anger. Elena, that little bitch, was going to hurt Stefan when he found out that they had kissed, since Katherine was impersonating Elena. He was going to get crushed because as it much as it hurt to admit, Stefan was over her and was in love with Elena. Elena was about to ruin it if she kept up the thing she had with Damon. Stefan and Elijah were the only people she only really loved, after all those pointless relationships. Katherine didn't want to see him get hurt because of that wench. If anyone, she wanted Courtney and Stefan. She could trust Courtney would be straight and truthful with him because she was a realist. Not an optimist like her twin sister. Elena was a saint…until she wanted something bad. She was going to mess up something so sweet with Stefan all for _Damon._

Katherine decided to get some anger out on John Gilbert, a pain in her ass, who was in the kitchen. Katherine wasn't sure why Isobel even wanted to include him in plans for everything, but if Isobel wanted that, she could get it. Katherine was worried, Isobel was dead anyway.

She appeared behind the fridge door that John had open. He jumped when he saw _Elena _standing right there so close when she wasn't before.

"Oh, Elena. You scared me," he told her softly, a little suspicious.

"Oh, sorry," Katherinesaid with a kind of attitude, walking towards.

"Is Jenna home?"

"She went to meet the fire chief. She doesn't know the truth, they covered it up." Katherine grabbed a plate from the stack on the counter, careful to avoid the knife.

"I know, how's Jeremy doing?" John asked back, losing suspicion. Exactly what Katherine needed, but she didn't know what he meant. The answer to that wasn't in her mind. Jeremy was the little brother, she knew that for sure, but what the hell did he mean? Anna, the vampire who was a dangerous adversary to her plans, died in the fire, luckily for her. Katherine was sure Jeremy and Anna had something going on, from what the spies had told her. She walked to the sink to wash her hands briefly, it felt like an _Elena Gilbert _thing to do and returned to her plate.

She decided with a mutual answer. "Holed up in his room."

Little did Katherine even know, Jeremy was on the verge of death, lying on his bed from the pills that he had taken just after downing Anna's blood. He was so undone about Anna's death. She died, Vicki died and his parents had died and Courtney had left. He was losing everyone he loved one by one. He was just afraid that Elena was going to leave him too, dispite how mad he was at her. He was mad at Courtney too, for leaving him, but he got why. She had left because Elena lied to her for a year of her life and then compelled her to forget, just like she did to Jeremy. But it was so much more for her, and he knew that. Courtney's twin, her blood sister, lied straight to her face.

Katherine, back down in the kitchen, heard Elena walking on the porch, so she had to get her warning done faster than the pace she was going. Elena was talking to someone on the phone, so she was good for a few minutes. Katherine and John were talking intently along with staring.

"Can I help?" John asked.

"Sure." Her eyes snapped down to his finger with the ring on it. With her vampire speed, Katherine grabbed the knife next to her and cut off John's ring finger along with his middle and pinky finger.

He gasped out staring at his hand, "Katherine?!"

She pushed John up against the other counter and said, "Hello, John." She let her scary face come out to play. "Goodbye, John." Katherine stabbed the knife into John's gut and watched him fall to the floor with a smirk on her face. She pulled out the knife. John groaned and grunted, holding his gut. Katherine was gone by the time Elena was in the kitchen to catch her Uncle John gasping on the floor of the kitchen.

Elena was scared for her uncle's life. Elena was never a big fan of Uncle John, Courtney was, but she wasn't about to watch a family member die on the floor of her house. She rushed over to John, but stopped abruptly when she saw all the blood.

"Oh, god!"

John kept gasping on the floor, trying to stare up at Elena. He wanted to make sure it was Elena for sure and not Katherine again. He knew it was her when she started to put pressure on his wound and grab a towel and a phone to call nine-one-one. His heartbeat accelerated when he saw Katherine standing behind Elena with that devious look in her eyes.

"Behind you," he warned, gathering up the breaths he had. She didn't get it at first, but when John repeated what he had said, she took in a sharp breath and turned around to see nothing behind her. But Elena Gilbert being Elena Gilbert, she wanted to make sure there was nothing or anyone else in the house. She grabbed the bloodied knife from next to John and got up from her position. With John gasping for air behind her, Elena went from the kitchen to the hallway to check. Behind her, she heard a gust of wind, which caused her to turn around quickly, only to find nothing.

_Damn vampire speed, _she thought as she kept checking. Katherine appeared in the living room, watching Elena quietly as she walked around. Katherine's mood had improved greatly. She was on the verge of killing John Gilbert and was scaring Elena shitless. There was nothing better than seeing someone's downfall in Katerina Petrova's eyes. But there was no point in sticking around. She ran out of the house and back into the street.

Elena turned around right to see the door close. When she realized she had another family member that she needed to check on, Elena rushed up the stairs to her brother's room. Continuously, Elena repeated his name. When she got up to his room to see he was lying on his bed not moving, Elena panicked even more. She couldn't have two other family members dead. Mom and dad were dead, Courtney was dead and a vampire, John was lying on his death bed and Jeremy was _literally _too.

She shook Jeremy, saying his name and crying. When he finally woke up, there was a gasp. She cried even harder with joy when his eyes snapped open and he finally took a breath of air. "Jeremy," she sobbed, holding on to him. "Thank god you're okay."

Jeremy stared at Elena and wrapped his arms around his crying sister. He didn't feel any different from when he went to sleep, but maybe that was just the effect of being _dead._

"John," Elena said into his shirt, "he's lying downstairs with a knife wound." Jeremy jumped up to this. He wasn't going to go down to see his uncle for some reason, though. He wanted to see him so bad, but being around blood wouldn't be good for a newly turned vampire. If his uncle had any chance of living, Jeremy wasn't going to ruin it by drinking from him.

Jeremy let Elena cry on his for a few moments before pushing her off and sitting on his bed. He wondered why he didn't have the urge to sink his teeth into his sister when she was right there, so close to him.

They both could hear sirens though. Jeremy thought it was because of his newly acquired vampire hearing while Elena was relieved someone was there that fast. Jeremy sat on the edge of his bed and waited for the smell of blood to invade his nostrils. He had to control the urge no matter how strong it was, for Elena even though she didn't deserve it. For John.

Elena was confused at what Jeremy was doing. He didn't answer any of her questions and when she asked about Katherine, he just stared at her like she was crazy. The paramedics were coming in by then. They both could hear them come down and stabilize John. Jeremy was being confusing and unhelpful.

"What happened?" she repeated.

"I'm in transition," he answered. "Anna gave me her blood and I took up the offer."

Stefan could hear the sirens from afar. At first, he thought that Damon had done something like leave a human alive, but instead it was heading to Elena's house, where he was heading. Stefan panicked and decided to pick up the speed with his car.

_What if Elena's hurt? What's happening? Did Damon do this?_

There were so many questions running through Stefan's mind and the only thing that could put the questions to rest was checking it out for himself. By the time he got there, considering all the police officers slowing him down, John was being brought out on a gurney and Elena was standing at the top of the stairs looking worried. Stefan tried to walk in, but an officer stopped him. Stefan was about to say something, but Elena's voice stopped him.

"It's okay, he's okay," she told the officer. Stefan was let in. Elena reached out for him and they walked up the stairs together. Stefan was curious, was Courtney home? But his question was put to rest when he saw Jeremy sitting on his bed looking at his hands. There was something wrong.

"What happened?" Stefan asked.

"I don't know. He said Anna gave him her blood and he took these pill, I think." Elena held up the bottle she found in the bathroom before going to meet Stefan at the stairs. "And now, I mean, he looks fine to me, but I just wanted you to check for me. I don't know how this really works."

Stefan stared into Jeremy's eyes and saw no difference. Jeremy had a heartbeat too. There was nothing wrong with him. Jeremy was still human. He was going to be okay just as long as he didn't try to kill himself.

"He's fine," Stefan declared.

Jeremy was panicked. "You mean I'm not a vampire?" Stefan looked at him with a pointed look. "Dammit," he whispered.

"No, Jeremy, don't talk like that."

"Whatever," he mumbled.

"Ms. Gilbert?" The police officer from downstairs came into Jeremy's room. Elena knew that meant she had to go to the hospital to make sure Uncle John was okay. She also had to head to the hospital to check on Caroline.

"You need to go to the hospital," Stefan stated, trying to wrap his head around everything that happened.

"No, I'm not leaving," Elena tried.

"Go. It's okay, I'll stay here with Jeremy," Stefan explained.

"No," Jeremy denied. "I don't need a babysitter."

"Yes," Elena argued. "You do."

Bonnie was terrified. Her best friend was in the hospital and there was nothing she could do about it. She tried to make things right by not taking the power off the Gilbert device but it only brought pain to the ones she loved. When she heard about Caroline being in the hospital, she couldn't shake off the feeling that it was her fault. When Matt told her about Caroline, the guilt welled up even more. But when she saw Damon talking to Elena, she got mad.

"What is he doing here?" Bonnie demanded when she got up to Elena and Damon. Damon almost groaned when he saw her.

"He's…I don't know why he's here, actually," Elena answered.

"I'm here to help," Damon replied, annoyed by the two girls.

Bonnie scoffed. "All you do is bring pain. You don't help."

Damon decided to ignore Bonnie and he turned to Elena. "I can give her a little bit of my blood. She'll heal right up."

"No."

Bonnie's feelings were mixed. She wanted Caroline to get better, but she didn't want to take the chance that she would become one of _them. _If Caroline took Damon's blood, there was a fifty percent chance that she would survive and still stay human, but Bonnie really didn't want to take that other fifty percent. But she did want her friend alive. So there was only one answer.

"Do it."

ONE WEEK LATER

"Darling, wake up," a British voice cooed next to me. I opened my eyes to face blue ones. "Darling, you've been asleep for a while and I've only watched you sleep for a while. As creepy as that sounds."

"That's not creepy," I mumbled sarcastically, yawning soon after. I didn't know how to react to waking up next to a very beautiful man that claimed he was watching me while I slept. I felt like Bella for a second, then pushed away the feeling because I didn't want to be an always opened-mouth, depressed slut.

"Yes, but I feel bloody creepy just lying there next to you watching you breathe in and out while your hair fell in your face and then I had to remove it. You know, you are beautiful when you sleep?"

"Klaus," I scolded bashfully looking away. He was too good to me ever since I stayed. He was true to his word when he told me he wasn't going to disappoint. It wasn't all sex (mind you, his is very good). It was talking and getting to know each other and in ways I didn't think were possible. I still never shared the location of my family or the pictures I drew of Silas. I thought there were some things I just needed to keep to myself. But Klaus was becoming a better person, that was for sure. He was nicer and more careful of people's feelings. I didn't want to sound old and boring, but he made me proud with his improvement.

"You truly are," Klaus insisted, bring my face back to his with his finger. Strangely, I had a weird sense of déjà vu.

"Stop, I'm not—"

"Shh, love." Klaus put his lips to mine to join us together in a passionate kiss. With our lips attached, we kissed for a few minutes before we decided we needed to get up.

Klaus pecked me on the lips one more time and then got up from the bed and out from under the covers. "I don't know what we're doing today, to be honest." I laid my head on my hand which was pushed up by my elbow, lying on my side. Klaus was putting on his pants, white jeans and started looking around for a shirt. We had spent the last few days together up in his house watching movies, talking or playing games. It was weird (and very different) that we could stand that much of each other for that long. I thought I was going crazy, but I think I was just falling love. Klaus had so many different sides to him. A vicious side, a vengeful side, but also a soft, caring side that I always seemed to bring out in him.

"We could just have an 'us' day," I suggested.

"Sweetheart, we had that yesterday," Klaus denied with a smile, looking at me. I rolled my eyes and hopped up in sitting position, the duvet still covering my legs.

"Yeah, but sweetheart," I mocked his accent, making him playfully frown, "we can do it again if you really love me." Klaus's fake frown turned into a real one as he made is way over to me. With both hands on each side of my face, Klaus kissed me.

"Of course I love you," he confirmed after our lips disconnected. I wasn't sure why he was admitting that he loved me, because we had never said that before. I was just joking with him, but apparently, he felt that way. And I felt that way too, but I didn't know if I was ready to say it that fast. I ignored it.

"Then can we go out together?"

"No, what I meant by I have no plans for us is that I'm doing something…alone. I don't want you coming when I have to do business. You know that."

"Yeah, but Nik, I want to do something with you," I whined sounding like a small child.

"Nope, I've got to go." Klaus pulled out a gray shirt out of the drawer. I hopped out of the bed quickly to catch Klaus before he got out the door. I put my hand on his arm and turned him around into my lips.

"Are you going to do something bad? Something that not redemption?" I mumbled.

"No, I am not," Klaus said. I had a feeling that it was going to be, but I tried to shake it out.

"Promise we'll have tonight together?" I requested.

"I promise."

Klaus was out the bedroom door by the time I could say anything else. He seemed like he was really in a hurry to meet someone. Maybe he had some unfinished business to attend to since he was being good. I only hoped that he wouldn't do anything stupid and kill someone like he would usually do. He was on his path to being forgiven and being a better man. I only hoped that he didn't do something to mess that up.

I wondered around his room aimlessly and started looking through things. It wasn't like me to look through other people's things. It was rude and I couldn't stand someone doing that to me. But, alas, I wanted to know more about my boyfriend.

I pulled out books and looked through them, but there were no secrets or diaries. Klaus was a well guarded man. He kept his secrets inside of him and didn't plan on releasing them; not even to me. No matter, I'd just find them out myself. I kept looking through books, when I saw a safe. A smile bloomed on my face when I saw the thing.

_So, that's where he keeps all the juicy secrets and gossip._

I put my ear up to the lock and listened for the clicks when I turned the dial. When I finally got the combination put in right, I opened the safe. Inside, I saw maps and pictures and letters and numbers. There were jumbles of crap in the safe. I was a little suspicious. I took out a map of the United States at looked at the places marked. There was a date at the top saying _September 9__th__, 2010. _On the map, there were little black marks on states. _New York _one of them read. _New Jersey, New Orleans, West Virginia._ I was confused about what the map showed. Then I saw it at the top.

_The Doppelganger._

I instantly looked through all the other notes and maps. He had been tracking her. My sister ever since and before he met me. He told me that he was done doing all that shit, but he lied. Klaus was still tracking the doppelganger so he could sacrifice her and become a hybrid. What was he going to tell me?

_"Oh, Courtney, I'm going to go off for a week to do an ancient sacrifice. Don't worry. Love you. Oh, and I might come back as a hybrid."_

Klaus had been shitting me the whole time.

I stomped over to my phone and dialed the number that was on my mind.

"Darling, I'm in the middle of something."

"You liar," I snapped into the phone. "You told me that you were done chasing the doppelganger. You told me your wishes of becoming a hybrid was over, but you lied. I found the safe."

"Love, now, let's not over—"

"I'm not overreacting!" I shouted. Betrayed again, by someone I thought I could actually trust. "You are such a wanker!"

"Courtney—"

"I'm hanging up now because I just can't even. Goodbye, finish your search by meeting up with some asshole." I hung up the phone and threw it on the bed. Tears were threatening to fall down from my eyes, but I held them in. I snatched up my clothes and took a pair of keys for Klaus's cars.

I needed to head back to the apartment and get what I needed. Courtney Gilbert was going back home.

When I saw the boarding house for another time, my heart swelled up. I couldn't get into my own house, so I just broke the window to my room and threw my bag of clothes in. I was pretty sure someone was in there, but I didn't really care. I needed to apologize to Damon and Stefan. I left when I really didn't need to. I was being a baby.

I walked straight in to find my sister and her boyfriend making out on the couch.

"Well, isn't this cosy?" I called out, breaking them apart. Elena and Stefan both stared at me. "Two lovers making out? A little disgusting, but cute. Now, Elena, I need you to get up and drive back home because I cannot get into my own house."

**Short as shit**

**I'm a bitch**

**Sorry you have to read this**

**Longer update next time**

**I promise, and I'll do it right**

**Sorry if these doesn't rhyme**

**But I'm trying to be funny**

**So bear with me honeys**

**I really am trying to be sunny**

**Did you like what I did in the end?**

**She back home again**

**She'll be back in her own bed**

**Do you think she'll be mad at Katherine**

**Just keep reading after this**

**And you'll find out if it all goes to shit**


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

"Courtney!" Elena squealed, jumping up from the couch and running into my arms. I openly let her jump in them and wrapped mine around her. I could hear her mumbling, "Oh, thank god you're home. I missed you so much. Why did you leave me? I needed you here with me after everything that's happened. Courtney, don't ever do that again."

"How's my best friend?"

"Huh?"

"Caroline," I corrected. Elena unattached from my arms and stared at me. She was probably wondering how I knew that. "She's a vampire, I know. How is she?"

"She's good," Elena answered breathily. I nodded and smiled at her. She smiled back at me.

It was Stefan's turn to talk. "I missed you here, Courtney."

"I bet everyone did, Steffers," I said, faking happiness as I walked to the couch he and Elena were sitting on together. I was feeling a little weird after I caught them kissing. It was like what happened in my dream. That still confused me a bit. I was afraid that would happen. Stefan was strictly my friend before, but after the dream, I was having feelings I shouldn't have had. I was feeling jealous that Elena had him and envious of her position as his girlfriend. Then when I caught him kissing my sister a few moments ago, images of the dream came flooding back.

My dream about waking up next to Klaus came true. I realized what we had said to each other was close to exactly what we said in the dream. It was like I was a clairvoyant through my dreams; if that was normal in a world full of vampires, witches, werewolves, ghosts and doppelgangers. If the dream with Klaus was real and eventually happened, the dream with Stefan could happen in some way.

I sat on the opposite couch. "My leave was interesting."

"Tell us about it," Elena demanded softly, sitting next to Stefan.

"Well, there are a few things I have to tell you. Like who I went with. It was—"

"Katherine," Stefan interrupted, "we know. We kind of figured it out through the note you left for us."

"Oh, well there's something else," I told them hesitantly. I wasn't sure if I should tell them everything. I mean, I didn't even know what some of it meant myself, because New Orleans was a bust.

"What is it?"

"Katherine and I discovered something while we were gone. But I have to start from the very beginning. So, Katherine and I were doing research on something. And then, I started having these dreams. I actually started having them in Mystic Falls," I explained. "But then they happened every night when I was with Katherine. One of them actually came true recently…"

Stefan looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I dreamt about meeting someone and then it came true about a week after," I repeated. Stefan turned his head away and stared at the fire intensely like he was thinking. I continued, "The reason why I snapped Damon's neck was because he killed my favorite witch."

"Your favorite witch?"

"Bree. I met her, not in real life, but in a dream."

Elena looked suspicious. "So, not only can you tell the future in your dreams, but you can see people too?" Elena concluded doubtfully.

"Your sarcasm wounds me," I joked playfully. "But yes, that is what I'm telling you. But that's not the weirdest part. I saw her in real life."

"Okay…"

"After Damon killed her," I added. Both Elena and Stefan's faces went from clueless and confused to dumbfounded. "Yup, I can see dead people. I saw Vicki the day I left. That's why I was talking to my window, Elena. That's why you found me like that. I saw her ghost and she touched me. I felt her."

"She's not making sense, right Stefan?" Elena asked hopefully. I almost wanted to scoff. Of course, she doesn't _trust _me.

"Vampire exist, Elena. She really could be seeing this stuff," Stefan resoponded, not even sparing her a glance.

"I saw Bree, but I can't remember what we talked about for some reason. Anyway, the reason I talked to her was because there's something wrong with me," I informed them. Elena looked even more interested in this. I knew Elena loved me, she really did, but it always felt like she was trying to find my flaws and point them out any time she could. The time I ditched school was probably an excuse she used, saying that I couldn't be trusted when Stefan or Bonnie accused her of betrayal.

"What do you mean?" Stefan inquired.

"I mean— you know I'm a vampire, right?"

"Yes, I figured when Damon said that you snapped his neck," Stefan nodded, "Then my suspicious were confirmed when you said that you couldn't get into your own house."

"Yeah, okay, so Katherine fed me her blood and killed me right?" Stefan nodded hesitantly, angry at the thought that Katherine killed me. "About a week later, I'm having one of those dreams," I said, "Katherine wakes me up saying something that was impossible until it happened to me."

"What is it?" Elena asked eagerly.

"I was human."

_Silence._

Neither Stefan or Elena said anything to me when I told them. Both just stared at me, probably trying to process the information I had just told them. I waited patiently as they stared. I would be confuzzled and doubtful like they were. Hearing that a vampire turned back into a human was absolutely ridiculous, and we lived in a world with supernatural beings. But it was true. I was a total freak and I turned back into a human after being a vampire. Yeah, I was a vampire with issues.

Stefan declared after deep thought, "That's impossible."

"That's what I said! But it was true, Katherine had to feed me her blood and kill me _again. _Then, she left the next day to come here, I'm guessing you know, and then I went to do some research, I find that my good friend Bree is dead. So, I snap Damon's neck and all that shit. So, I head over to New Orleans to get consult of another witch and they drug me with some vampire voodoo. I'm pretty sure they discovered something, but Sabine, the witch, was just so scared, like she found something that wasn't normal, even for us. Yeah, I passed out, ended up in my car and I had to go back to the apartment I shared with Katherine."

"Is that it?"

"Nope, Stefan, I met your dead friend." Stefan tilted his head in confusion. "Lexi, I think her name was," I pretended. Stefan's face was angry. I didn't want to remind him of his dead friend, but if it was the only way I could get through the message, I had to do it.

"How did you know about that?" Stefan demanded in a harsh tone.

Elena scolded, "Stefan." She put her hand on his arm to calm him down. Surprisingly (not), it did.

"I mean, I saw her in a bathroom, along with an old _friend. _Stefan, I am telling the absolute truth. I also—" I stopped myself before I said anything about Klaus or the drawings I had. I didn't want to reveal everything before I had answers myself.

"You what?"

I substituted something else instead of what I was about to expose. "I killed someone." Elena's eyes widened and Stefan looked troubled. He was a ripper once and he knew what it felt like. Even if he had his emotions off at the time, Lexi got him to turn them back on and the guilt probably came rushing all back. Stefan probably didn't even want to look at himself. Stefan was a good guy and he wanted nothing more than to control his vampire urges around blood. Learn it, like I did.

"Twice, actually," I added.

"Why would you do that?" Elena gasped.

"It wasn't on purpose the first time. Or the second time. Katherine compelled this girl," I shyly looked away. "_Jenna, _and I drank from her until she ran dry. It turns out that she had vampire blood in her system and then she came back to get revenge on me. She, um…she explained to me what happened when she went home to her boyfriend. _Stefan, _she killed her boyfriend. It was my fault." I sobbed. Once again, I was crying over killing Jenna. She really didn't deserve it. She deserved to be human and not a vampire, who died right after she was turned. Stefan got up from his spot next to Elena and joined me on the couch, wrapping his arms around my shoulders.

"Shh…"

"And she confronted me. When she went to kill me, my hand flew in her chest and swiftly ripped out her heart," I explained. I could feel Stefan stop looking at me and look at Elena. She probably had that scared, alarmed look on her face. "It was like a reflex."

Stefan offered, "We all have that survival instinct."

I finally looked up to his eyes. They looked caring and worried when I stared into them. "But, when yours is snapping someone's neck, mine is pulling out their heart, or shoving a wood in it."

Stefan sighed. "I know…"

"I'm a murderer and a freak," I mumbled.

"Don't worry," Stefan assured. "We'll find out what's wrong and you'll be just fine." I tried to let Stefan's words replay in my mind to reassure myself that everything was going to be okay and that Stefan and Elena weren't shunning me because I was a vampire that was different from all the others. They were accepting of my _condition _and the promised to help me. I was right where I needed to be.

"I need to get home," I suddenly said, attitude cheering up. I thought of seeing Jeremy and Jenna and that just improved my whole mood. And then Caroline and Bonnie. "I need to see my little brother and my favorite aunt."

I wasn't sure how I was going to react to Bonnie. I felt like I forgave her, but then again, I hadn't seen her in a while, so how would I really know? Forgiving wasn't an easy process and it gets even worse when you're not there with the person. You may be ignoring them, but you know they're at arm's length when you do forgive, and if you don't tell them right away and become friends again, you over think. That was what I did.

"Okay," Elena mumbled. I smiled at her and Stefan before getting up from the couch. Elena and Stefan met each other halfway and joined in a kiss. When they parted, Elena whispered, "Call me."

Stefan nodded and then turned back to look at me. I reassured him with a smile, then turned away to wipe away the few tears that were left. I would probably let those out when I was home in my bed. I followed Elena out the Salvatore's door and into her new car. The car ride was actually awkward as fuck. Elena just kept looking at me like she was excited, but disappointed at the same time. I almost wanted to yell at her to stop with the fucking looks and just go fuck herself, but that wouldn't be very sisterly of me.

When we finally pulled up to the house, that's when Elena said something. "There's a few things you have to know. Jeremy's girlfriend, Anna, died and he tried to turn into a vampire."

"Following his big sister's steps," I joked.

"This isn't funny," Elena snapped being the boring old twin she is. "Jeremy seriously could have died and we would have had two vampires in the family." I rolled my eyes. Vampirism wasn't that bad, aside from killing innocent people accidentally.

"Whatever Elena."

She ignored me, _again. _"And," Elena added. "Katherine is doing everything to ruin us. She's trying to do something that involves me."

"I know," I chirped. Elena stared at me like I was crazy. "What?"

"You knew?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, I'm right no it." I winked at Elena before opening the door and speeding up to our porch. I rang the doorbell and Jenna opened the door. Her face was hysterical and sweet. She dropped the strawberry she had in her mouth and went to hug me. I happily hugged her back and waited for her to say something.

"Courtney! I missed you so much!" Once Jenna was done with giving me loving, she bombarded me with questions. "Where did you go? Why would you leave like that? Do you know how much trouble you are in? You don't know how much pain you've caused, do you?"

"I'm sorry, Jenna, I was just with Katherine," I explained.

"Who?" Jenna looked confused as fuck.

_That bitch didn't tell Jenna, even after she saw my reaction?_

I turned to look back at Elena, who was looking down at her feet guiltily and playing with her hands. I sent Elena harsh looks, hoping that she'd look up to catch them, but she didn't. Jenna snapped her fingers to get my attention again. "Sorry, she's a friend."

"I knew you were always the bad one," Jenna commented. I gave her a weird, twisted face and she laughed. Jenna continued to walk in the house, but I didn't follow. I tried before, walking in, but there was some kind of barrier that seriously wouldn't let up. It was like walking into an invisible wall of bricks with a giant sleeping on the other side. She took a few steps until she realized I wasn't following and demanded, "Get in here." Like magic, I lifted my foot up and I could walk into my own house. The smile on my face bloomed bigger.

"So, how was life without me? Boring? Pointless?"

"Peaceful," Jeremy called down from the stairs. I made a high pitched sound and ran to the end of the stairs (human speed) with my arms open. Jeremy took this as an invitation and rushed right into my arms. I missed him the most. All of our late nights, playing video games in his room or talking about life, I missed that. He was my favorite sibling because we could relate to each other. I couldn't do that with Elena. We'd just talk and she'd be serious and if I joked around it'd be "No Courtney, this is real" or "Courtney, stop, this is serious." I never got to have my fun around Elena. Mind you, I still loved my sister deeply, but she just wasn't as easy to talk to.

"Courtney," Jeremy mumbled into my shoulder, "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Jerbear," I said back, with a tear slipping out of my eye. But the smile didn't fade from my face.

"Now, that we've had the family reunion, we need to talk about the consequences," Jenna said from behind us. Jeremy and I let go of each other so I could face Jenna. There was one person missing from this whole thing.

"I am all ready for the consequences, but where's John?" I wondered.

"He's…um…gone," Jenna stuttered. _What? I have to ask Elena about that later, _I advised to myself.

"Okay, so what am I facing? Two months in my room? Dishes for a year? What's going to happen to me, Judge Jenna?"

"Courtney Gilbert, since you were gone for almost two months," Jenna started in an authoritative voice. "and left out of the blue, you get three months locked in your room and you have to serve two weeks of house labor. No complaining." Jenna slapped her hand down like it was a gavel on the staircase railing. I faked tears and pleading for mercy. She kept the act up and fled upstairs away from the courtroom.

"Seriously, though," Jenna popped her head back down out of her room, "Don't leave like that again. We missed you."

"Don't worry, Jenna, I don't plan on leaving this little boy until he moves out," I assured her, looking at Jeremy who stuck his tongue out at me.

"So, when he's thirty?" Elena joked. Jeremy gasped and Jenna and I laughed.

"I expected from Jenna and Courtney," Jeremy huffed, "but from you 'Lena? You're my own sister!"

"Sorry, tough luck," she shrugged. I kept laughing until I realized what he had said.

I put my hand over my heart. "I'm your sister too," I defended, feeling left out.

"Yeah, but you're different," Jeremy replied. He walked past me and into the kitchen.

"I don't know if I should be offended, or pleased?"

Elena butted in, "You _should _come upstairs with me."

"Okay," I responded cheerfully even though I knew that being in an enclosed room with Elena _alone _wasn't the best idea for me. I risked my life being in a car with Elena before, I wasn't sure if I wanted to be alone with Elena where she was able to use her hands without killing us both if she took her hands off the wheel.

I followed Elena up to my room slowly. She closed the door behind us and put her hands on her hips. I was ready for the rant. I was ready to hear Elena complain about how much pain everyone felt, how much she was worrying about me and how bad of a person I was. I was ready because I had heard it all before. There was no telling what was going to go down in that room, but I was ready because I was Courtney Gilbert, great, great (helluva lot more great's) granddaughter of Katerina Petrova. I could face anything.

"What the hell?" was all she demanded. I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but I answered my best.

"Um…I left."

"Yes! And you know what? It broke my heart. How could you leave us? We're your family and friends. We care about you," Elena said.

"Obviously, you don't care about me enough to tell me the truth," I snapped back. Elena's harsh look softened a bit. "That's why I left. You didn't tell me anything, you selfish bitch. Elena, I love you, but you need to start being less selfish."

"Selfish? I was protecting you!"

"In what fucking way?" I demanded quietly.

Elena stopped for a second and started stuttering, "I…I thought…I just…"

"Fucking nothing, Elena," I growled. "You were thinking of yourself so you wouldn't have to worry about Jeremy or me getting in trouble but you never thought about what happened when we invited a vampire in the house and got ourselves killed." No, you didn't want to worry about making us feel better when we get feed on. You just wanted to make sure that we were in the dark and just erase our minds in the end."

"Courtney," Elena whispered, after thought, "You're absolutely right. I was acting like a bitch and I was only thinking of myself in the end, but I had good intentions. I wanted to keep you safe, but I guess I took out my plan in the wrong way."

I nodded at her with my arms crossed. "Thank you."

Elena took a step towards me. "I love you, Courtney, and I'm sorry."

My scowl was replaced by a smile. "Bring it in, sista!" I held out my arms for Elena and she gladly took them again. We hugged and I felt the love I felt for my twin that I hadn't felt in a long time. I finally found myself forgiving Elena while she was in my arms. "Believe it or not, I missed you," I mumbled.

"I missed you too," she whispered back.

"You have to fill me in on everything," I demanded. "What's up?" We both sat on my bed. I sat in the middle with my legs criss-crossed and Elena sat at the edge, laying back so she could face me.

Elena listed off, "Jeremy tried to turn himself into a vampire, the tomb vampires are gone, including Anna. Oh, and Isobel killed herself right in front—"

"What?!" I jumped up at the sound of my mother actually dying AGAIN. Is that why Isobel wanted to say goodbye to me? Because she was going to kill herself for no reason? That was the most selfish thing…next to Elena, but I guess it was her choice not to even make an effort when she's already here to be in our lives. Fuck her…

"Yeah, I'm sorry," Elena apologized softly, landing a hand on my thigh. "I know you never got to meet her."

I fought with myself whether to tell Elena that I saw Isobel and that we talked or if I should just not… But in the end, I decided I didn't want to be like Elena and not tell anyone anything. "I saw her."

"What?"

"She came to me right before I went to snap Damon's head and apologized to me," I explained, avoiding her eyes. I added, "She wrote me a note, but I never opened it."

"Well, where is it?" she commanded.

"It's somewhere," I said softly with a fake smile.

"You need to find it and read it," Elena ordered. "As crazy as it seems, I think that she loved us."

"Maybe she did, but she had a shitty way of showing it."

"Yeah, she did," Elena replied. "Anyway, Caroline's dead, Tyler's actually a werewolf—"

I interrupted Elena again. "I knew that."

Elena stared at me and then grumbled, "Of course you did."

"Elena, Katherine is very well informed so that means I am too," I explained smugly. Elena didn't smile back.

"Why did you go with her anyway?"

"She's family, Elena. I might as well if I want to get away from _this _family," I lied. "I wanted to know about our family, okay? Is that so bad?"

"And you thought it would piss us off the most?"

"NO!" I denied, a little too quickly. Elena gave me her "You aren't shitting anyone" look. "Fine, yes, I did go with her because I thought it would piss you off the most," I admitted. It seemed as though I could never get past Elena with lies, but when she lied to me, it was a smooth as the cold winter breeze. I didn't get it. She could lie to me with ease and get away with it, but I could say any kind of lying shit and still fail. That was some bull!

"So, you pretty much know everything?"

"Pretty much," I confirmed.

"Good to know," Elena mumbled, thinking about something. "Well, I, for one, want to go to bed, so g'night."

"'Night, 'Lena," I said as she got up. "Don't let Stefan bite!"

Elena stopped cold in her tracks and turned around. "What did you say?"

"Don't let Stefan bite," I repeated. I felt a sense of déjà vu.

"Nothing," Elena replied quickly, looking troubled. She darted out the door, closed it behind her and I listened to her walk to her room. I felt like that happened before but with someone else…? But on another note, I had to hurry if I wanted to talk to Katherine before Stefan came over and listened to our conversation. Before I got out my phone, I searched through my bag for the drawings of Silas and Qetsiyah so I could talk to Katherine about the two pictures. I got into my green tank top I found in the drawers of my dresser and some gray booty shorts, then whipped out my phone to dial Katherine's number.

"Why didn't you answer before?"

"Well, hello to you too," I replied smugly back. Katherine grumbled over the phone something I couldn't understand while I sat on my bed again.

"Hi! How you doing?" Katherine asked with a face enthusiastic tone.

"I'm great," I responded with the same enthusiasm. "How about you?"

"Cut the bullshit," Katherine snapped. I chuckled. "Why didn't you answer?" she repeated.

"Did you find out anything about me or what I drew?" I shot back.

"Why didn't you answer?"

"I was going home. He lied to me, he obviously can't change even when I'm with him, so I—"

"Who?" Katherine interrupted. I forgot for a second that I didn't tell her about being with Klaus. I just told her that I was spending time with a human I met. It wasn't like I was going to reveal all to Katherine when I knew that she was running from Klaus and was going to bitch like Elena if she ever found out. That was one of the reasons I wanted to break the curse.

"You know, Jared," I lied smoothly. "Anyway, when I went to New Orleans to see our little witch-y friend, I got no answers. I also looked into Silas and all I got was centuries old witch. You got anything?"

"I got nothing on you but I got something on Silas," she informed me. From my end, it sounded like she was getting some papers to look at. "Silas had a fiancé, Qetsiyah, who loved him but he loved another woman, Amara. Qetsiyah found out, turned him into an immortal and imprisioned him with The Cure for Vampirism."

"Oh, so basically, he drank from the Fountain of Youth and got something most vampires would kill for?"

"No, I mean, he turned into a vampire and was imprisoned with The Cure and never drank it," Katherine corrected. Okay, I got it. She had more than Antonio had to offer me.

"So, what's the plan?"

"We're sacrificing your sister," Katherine stated flatly. "Why would I tell you?"

"Easy," I scoffed. "Elena's my family and you're my family too. Elena gets handed over and sacrificed; get a witch to bring her back; Klaus is a hybrid and you're free. Everybody wins."

"Good plan," she congratulated. "But one flaw: What witch would help you? A vampire…"

"Bonnie Bennett."

"Touché."

I said smoothly, "I know what I'm talking about."

Katherine agreed, "Obviously." She switched subjects within the same subject. "I've got the moonstone, I need Elena. Get me her?"

"Done," I agreed. "How are you getting Klaus?"

"Through you." I froze at Katherine's words _again. _How did she know that I knew Klaus? How did she know I could even get Klaus? I was utterly confused on how Katherine knew anything. I knew she had eyes all around, but I was careful to cover up my tracks with Klaus (no, I wasn't, that's bullshit). "I know about your little time with Klaus. And I'm impressed. You know how to get a man wrapped around your finger. Now, just do that with the Salvatores and then we'll be set for the whole sacrifice."

"Sure…"

"What?" Katherine questioned, sounding genuinely confused.

I denied, "Nothing. Nothing at all. But, I have to go because I can hear Stefan's car pulling up. Bye."

Katherine chirped, "Bye!" I hung up.

"Ugh," I groaned to myself. "Life."

I found the teddy bear _he _gave to me and the bird I won for myself and snuggled under the covers. I was all set until I started hearing ghosts moan on the other side of the wall. And they weren't the dead kind.

I closed my eyes and tried to block them out. "Eww…"

* * *

><p>Boy, lucky me. I got to wake up to the sounds of undead ghosts again. They were talking about life and how <em>Elena <em>needed to get in the shower. I wondered why _they _were talking about my sister…?

Hopping out of the bed, I covered my ears and cursed my vampire hearing because I really didn't need to hear that. I listened to their plans against Katherine and heard something I never thought I'd hear.

"What if Katherine finds out we were fake fighting?"

I had to fight with myself whether or not I should tell Katherine and I decided against it. Some things just needed to stay Stefan and Elena's business. Something else caught my attention too. I heard skin breaking.

"Ow…" Elena groaned.

Stefan replied quickly, "Did it hurt?"

"No, I'm fine," Elena responded.

_What the fuck is going on in that room?_

Elena freaked out the night before because I said don't let Stefan bite, but I was just kidding. Then, when I went over there to the boarding house, I could smell fresh blood but I thought that was just the blood bags even though they didn't smell that fresh. _It was Elena's blood, wasn't it? _I thought to myself. _Stefan's feeding off Elena? Over my multiple times dead body! Stefan will be hearing about this later…_

I, angrily, got my clothes on; a black dress with green flowers, black toe and the side of my foot cut-out heels and red lip stick. I decided that I'd just carry my phone around because I wasn't feeling up to using any clutches. I already heard Elena, Stefan, Jeremy and Jenna all leave so I had the house all to myself. I was surprised no one came up to say anything to me, but then again, it was expected. It's not like they did that when I was human and I didn't leave with Katherine. I wasn't sure if I wanted to just go to the Lockwoods and make my appearance back in Mystic Falls known to everyone or if I wanted to just stay home a little longer. That was until I saw Cassie.

"Cassie, baby, how you doing?" I asked sarcastically.

"You killed that poor girl again," Cassie whispered while staring at me with…I couldn't decipher her expression. I felt bad for killer her again, really I did but I didn't know what else to do. Cassie was a good person, I could see that and I expected her to be mad at me.

"I'm sorry, Cassandra, but what was I supposed to do? Let her kill me?"

"You were supposed to fight back, talk to her, make her see reason, not kill her," Cassie snapped. I turned away from her and shook my head. _That's some bullshit…_

"When a vampire is going after you and you can't do anything but pull her heart out, call me up so I can see what you do."

"That wasn't supposed to happen!"

"Cassie, a lot of things aren't supposed to happen but they do!" I screamed back. Cassie just stared at me until I opened my arms to hug her. She willingly took my offer and fell into my arms. I didn't realize how much she wanted to save lives until now. She was a saint at heart and she was hanging out with me; a vampire and a killer.

She sobbed, "I know."

"Cass, here's an idea. How about we go somewhere that'll make me feel better and you feel better seeing me better?" I suggested.

She scrunched her face up at my twisted logic, but agreed. I wasn't sure how _she _got there, but I ran at vampire speed to the graveyard where my parents lied and where Vicki was. "Who do you have here?" Cassie asked me.

"My parents and my best friend," I responded hollowly while I walked to _Miranda and Grayson Gilbert's _headstones. "There they are." I pointed to them. "I miss them so much. They always would know what to do in situations like this, not that I would tell them. Just because it isn't their problem, it's mine."

"Isn't that what Elena did to you? She didn't tell you about vampires because she thought she was protecting you. You wouldn't want to tell them because it isn't their problem? Of course it's their problem, you're their daughter."

"No I'm not," I denied. Cassie stopped for a second. I continued, "I was adopted by them and I didn't find out until they died. They didn't tell me for my whole life, but I guess they were just waiting for the right time. I mean, it isn't something you just bomb on your children."

"Cassie, I'm so sorry."

"Thanks." A tear escaped my eyes. "I'm sorry too."

There had never been a moment when I missed them more than I missed them standing in the graveyard with a _dead _ghost. I wondered how life would be if they actually were here. Would Stefan be dating Elena? Would I be a vampire? I had a feeling Katherine would still be hunting down one of us or both, since we were twins. What would happen? Would Caroline still be a vampire? Would Tyler be so close to breaking the curse? Would Katherine have to moonstone?

"That bitch," I whispered when I realized what Katherine was doing.

Cassie replied with, "What now?"

"Katherine killed Caroline so she could have a vampire, and she's trying to get Tyler to break his curse so he turns into a werewolf. She basically has the moonstone in her hands and I agreed to get Elena for her. She has everything she needs for the sacrifice," I recited. Cassie laughed.

"That's what Katherine Pierce does. She tricks you."

I dialed Katherine's number. "Oh, angst is high, Courtney," Katherine answered with. _Seriously, can she not answer with a simple "hello?"_

"You're a real bitch, you know that?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You wanted to use my two friends as the vampire and werewolf," I accused.

Katherine said, "Oh yeah, I thought you knew that?"

"No!" I screamed. "Well, actually, all I knew was that you killed my best friend and you were compelling people to get in fights with Tyler."

"Sorry, it's not my fault you're ignorant," Katherine snapped.

"So, now you're getting sassy with me?"

"Yes, I am. What you're saying is shit. You agreed to help me, remember?"

"How the hell am I going to get Bonnie to bring back Elena, Caroline _and _Tyler?" I wondered.

"That sounds like a _You _problem, not a _Me _problem," Katherine replied. I scoffed at her.

"Wow…"

I was about to hang up when Katherine interrupted me. "Courtney, I'm sorry. I'll help you find a witch to bring back both your werewolf and vampire bitch."

"Hey, Caroline isn't a bitch," I argued. I had to admit, Caroline wasn't always the best to people, but she definitely wasn't a bad person.

"She betray me for her little teenage friends."

"And you blame her?"

"She's supposed to follow me," Katherine whined. I wanted to laugh at Katherine.

I said, "Katherine, you killed her."

"So?" Katherine yelled. "Is that so bad?"

"No, it's the good thing to do," I replied sarcastically.

"Your sarcasm wounds me."

"You took away her chances of growing up, which Caroline wanted to do so bad, and having blonde children with Matt," I said. "You took away her chances of becoming a fashion designer without wanted to rip out her assistant's throat."

"Well, now she has super strength and everlasting beauty," Katherine retorted.

"As crazy as that sounds, Caroline doesn't want that," I responded. "She wants a husband that will love her and a job that she'll love. She wants children that will look up to her and she wants to watch them grow up. She wants to help her little girl get ready for prom and watch her little boy get his first girlfriend. But now she can't do that, thanks to you."

"Sorry, not all of us know the American dream," Katherine sarcastically apologized and I rolled my eyes.

"Anyway, I need to get down to the Lockwoods' anyway, so adios!"

"Bye," Katherine grumbled. We both hung up. I turned to a ghost with crossed arms and an amused expression on her face.

Cassie asked, "So, that's how your conversations go with Katherine?"

"Pretty much," I answered. "Except, there's more sarcasm. Anyway, I'm going to have to head out. You coming?"

"You're inviting me?"

"Yeah, buddy, why wouldn't I? I just can't talk to you. Alrighty, leggo!"

* * *

><p>I found myself looking at trucks and teenagers and adults unloading them. <em>Duh, the masquerade is coming up, so that's why everyone's here. I was wondering… <em>I took out my phone and pretended I was talking on it. Cassie gave me a questioning look.

"I need to pretend I'm talking on the phone so I don't sound crazy when I reply to you," I explain and Cassie nodded her head. "But it won't last forever."

"Sure, sure," Cassie agreed. Out of all the places, I spotted Jeremy and Tyler talking to each other. Then I turned to see Stefan and Damon pacing together, talking about something. I spotted Elena in the Lockwoods' house unpacking a box full of decorations onto the window seal and Bonnie doing the same, but outside. This was genuinely cute. The only person who was missing was Caroline. I didn't see her blonde hair or hear her cheerful voice. "This is adorable, you know that right? Most of the town here to set up a ball or something… Aww…"

"Masquerade," I corrected, walking towards Damon and Stefan. Halfway, I saw Damon leave Stefan and I turned my direction towards Bonnie. "Bonnie Bennett," I introduced Cassie. "She's a witch."

"Ooh, looks like she won't really like to see you."

"True that," I agreed. Deciding to use the phone trick for later, I took my phone from my ear. "Bons!"

Bonnie looked up from her box and looked at me. Her face went from confused to excited in moments. "Courtney, you're back!"

Bonnie dropped the things she had in her hands and fast walked to me, but when she went to hug me, I pulled back. I knew that she would snatch herself right from my arms when she touched me. Bonnie looked confused.

I checked around to see that not many people were watching our reunion and decided that I would do it anyway. To answer Bonnie's unspoken questions, I showed her my scary face. When Bonnie realized what I was doing, she brought her arms to her body and wrapped them around herself.

Cassie commented, "Way to cushion the blow."

"You too, huh?"

"I know you just lost Caroline and I'm sorry," I said, thoughtfully. "But, there is something I have to tell you."

"No, I don't want to hear it." Bonnie put her hand up and turned away from me. "I've had enough excuses about vampires."

"I turned human when I was a vampire," I blurted out. Bonnie stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned around to me.

"Wow, blunt, aren't we?" I wanted to snap to Cassie to shut up, but Bonnie interrupted me.

"You what?" she questioned.

"I turned back into a human when I was a vampire for a week," I repeated. Bonnie tilted her head in confusion, but I didn't elaborate more on the subject. "Bonnie, I know we just had our awkward reunion, but I have to go and see other people. We'll talk about it later, right?" Bonnie didn't answer. "Right?"

"Yeah," she finally agreed. "Sure…"

I sent a supportive smile in Bonnie's direction but she didn't smile back. I shook my head, giving up on trying to cheer her up at that moment. I decided to walk towards Jeremy and Tyler, but Cassie pointed me in another direction. I nodded at her and turned to look at Bonnie. Damon had grabbed her arm and pulled her away with Stefan.

I turned to go get Bonnie, but Cassie pointed, "Elena." I saw Elena walking down the stairs typing away on her phone. I didn't know where I wanted to go. There was Bonnie, who was in trouble with Damon because I knew if he didn't get what he wanted, he'd do something irrational. Stefan was there with him, Damon was stronger than Stefan and could do a lot more damage. But then there was my sister who looked troubled and worried while texting someone. I decided to go to my sister's aid instead of Bonnie's when I knew that I should have gone to Bonnie's.

"Elena!" I called out. She only looked up to me when she was done texting whoever she was texting.

"Courtney."

"What's going on, Elena?" I sat down next to her on the stairs and Cassie sat next to me. She looked like she was worried about someone or something that was happening right at that second.

"Stefan and Damon are with Bonnie. But I don't know what's going on," Elena responded. I nodded and put my arm around her shoulder. I listened to Cassie chuckle beside me.

"Cute, like out of a cliché."

Elena's phone dinged indicating she got a message from probably Stefan. Stefan and Elena weren't doing a good job of fake fighting. When couples are on breaks, they don't go to each other's houses to sleep in the same bed with them or text them while they're at a public event where anyone could steal your phone and look at who you were texting recently in the last five minutes. But apparently, after all those years being alive, Stefan didn't realize diddly squat.

Elena texted back quickly with her _Determined Elena_ face on. I waited with her as she waited for Stefan to text her back, but he never did. Meanwhile, Cassie was making faces at everyone who passed by because they couldn't see her. It was quiet amusing, all the faces she was making and no one replied to her. Being a ghost might have been more fun than they made it out to be. Suddenly, Elena pressed on Stefan's number and was calling him. I rolled my eyes at Elena and gave up trying to help her.

I listened as Elena argued with Stefan and just sat there with my head in my hands. Elena hung up with Stefan and left me lonely on the stairs without saying anything and headed up to the house. I almost yelled at her about leaving me, but then I decided she wasn't worth my time.

Cassie laughed again and said, "Your sister's a bitch. A whiny bitch at that."

I took out my phone and started to talk back with Cassie. "Yeah, I know, but she can be really nice and down to earth, when she's not trying to get her way."

"No wonder you left. This town is boring," Cassie commented looking around at the people unloading all their shit for the masquerade.

"Then, I guess I'll just have to shake it up."

I walked around, saying hi to people who said it to me and agreed that I was back in town, maybe for good. I wasn't sure if I'd stay after I knew that Elena was going to be safe and Katherine was free. I wondered if I was going to go back to Klaus and try to get him to change and be with his family because even through all the bad things he did, he deserved that. Klaus deserved family no matter what anyone said about it. While walking forever, Cassie and I came up on Bonnie pushing a table into a truck alone. I was about to offer to help her, since I had my new strength, but Mason beat me to it.

"How did you get stuck with that?" he questioned Bonnie, walking towards her.

She replied, "All the guys bailed, so I had to man up and just do it myself.

Mason offered, "Here, let me give you a hand." Bonnie let Mason take the table willingly. She looked around to make sure there wasn't many people watching before she stared at Mason. I was confused about what she was doing until I saw him clench his head in pain with his hands. She was using her witch-y crap on him, wasn't she?

"She's giving him aneurisms," Cassie informed me, realizing herself. I nodded and continued to watch Bonnie hurt Mason. As much as I wanted to yell out Uncle Mason and help him with Bonnie, I stood behind a tree and watched with Cassie. Mason kept groaning and putting his hands to his head as he fell to the ground.

"I'm sorry," Bonnie mumbled. Out of nowhere, Damon appeared and kneed Mason to make him unconscious. That was when I decided to intervene.

"I'm gone for a month and you're abusing werewolves?" I asked, coming out from behind the tree. Damon turned around and opened his mouth to say something witty, but closed it when he saw it was me. I smiled at him, but said nothing.

"You're back?" he questioned.

I nodded. "Yes, and you're hurting poor Mason Lockwood?"

"He tried to kill us," _Stefan _(who also came out of nowhere) informed me. "We're just returning the favor."

"Aww, but I like good 'ole Mason. He's Tyler's uncle." Stefan opened his mouth to say something, but I beat him to it. "Oh, that's right, Mason knows where the moonstone is."

"How did you know about that?" Damon demanded.

I walked over to pick up Mason. "Dear Damon, I know everything. Well, are you just going to stand there or help me put this werewolf in the Jeep so we can take him back to yours and interrogate him?"

Cassie asked sounding amused, "What are you doing?" I winked at her while no one was looking.

Damon and Stefan exchanged looks before Damon opened the door for Bonnie and Stefan tossed him the keys. He helped me get Mason's body in the back and I opened the door to the passenger's side.

"Scoot over," I requested playfully to Bonnie. She smiled at me, but quickly wiped the smile off her face. She complied to my demand, though. I closed the door after sitting next to Bonnie and getting comfortable. Cassie stayed outside the car and waved to me as we drove off. I nodded at her.

"So, what are you doing back?" Damon questioned.

"I missed you," I replied happily. "I missed you all. I just couldn't be away from Mystic Falls too long."

"Why are you helping us? I thought you had a pretty good relationship with Mason?" Bonnie asked this time.

"I happen to want the moonstone too," I said.

"Why?"

"So I can keep it away from Katherine," I lied. "Bitch doesn't deserve anything."

Damon asked, "So you finally realized Katherine's bad?"

"Damon, why'd you kill her?" I ignored his question.

"Who?" Bonnie looked at Damon alarmed and then looked at me.

"Bree. She was my friend and I didn't want her dead."

"I needed to do what I needed to do. She was trying to kill me," Damon answered. I rolled my eyes. Of course she was trying to kill him, Damon was a menace. He all the ridiculous things that didn't make sense to anyone but him and he caused everyone around him to be in danger. Of course she wanted to kill him.

"Whatever," I mumbled. We drove in silence for a few seconds.

"So, let's talk about your little condition for a few, shall we?" Bonnie offered, breaking the silence and giving me a pointed look.

"Ooh, it's like watching The Witch Gets Her Groove Back," Cassie's voice rang out from behind me. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw Cassie waving to me.

Damon demanded, "What condition?"

"You wanna tell him, or should I?" Bonnie offered.

Cassie commented again, "Witchy getting bitchy."

"Damon, after a week of being a vampire," I started, trying to hide smile because of Cassie, "I turned back into a human."

"Not possible," Damon waved off.

"Too bad, it is. And I have clairvoyant dreams and I can speak to dead people," I added.

Both Damon and Bonnie turned their heads to me and stared. Cassie burst out laughing in the back and I tried not to laugh along with her. "You…see their…faces…right? So damn…funny…" she laughed.

"What? That's…? You didn't mention that before," Bonnie said.

"Pick up your phone," Cassie requested, getting her breath back. I pretended to pick up my phone and Cassie said, "Bonnie Bitch don't know jack squat now."

"She's not a bitch," I replied, my smile returning to my face. "She's just a little mad because everyone is a vampire."

Damon looked confused and demanded to know who I was talking to. I waved him off and continued to let Cassie talk. "Okay, your life should be on a fucking TV show. I'd watch it every night," Cassie commented.

"And what would it be called?"

"I can't hear anyone talk on the other line," Damon said. I nodded and continued to ignore the both of them.

"Hmm… I don't know. What does your sister do a lot?"

"She cheers, she cooks, not every good I might add, she writes in her diary, she—"

"That's it!" Cassie jumped in the back seat. "_The Vampire Diaries."_

I shook my head. "That is the biggest bullshit I've ever heard."

"Thanks, I came up with it myself."

"Courtney, who the hell are you talking to?" Bonnie asked with a firm tone.

"Ooh, witchy's got attitude."

"Should I tell them?" I asked Cassie. She nodded sadly and pretended to wipe away her tears. "Now it won't be our little secret, I know."

"Go, tell them about our time together, I don't care," Cassie sobbed.

I took the phone from my ear and slowly turned to Damon and Bonnie looking eager. "I was talking to a dead girl, Cassie. She's actually in the car right now."

Damon scoffed. "Sure, now tell me who you were actually talking to?"

Cassie suggested, "Tell Bonnie to feel the dead. She can do that."

"Bonnie, focus and feel the dead," I requested. Bonnie looked at me like I was crazy.

"I can't do that. If I could do that, I would talk to my Grams all the time."

"No, she can't talk to us, she can only sense when a ghost is around."

I repeated what Cassie had said. "You can't talk to the dead, Bonnie, you can feel when a ghost is around, just like how you can sense when there's another witch or when you touch a vampire and you know."

"I can't," Bonnie denied.

"Focus."

"I…" Bonnie stopped talking and closed her eyes. Damon tried to say something, but I put my finger to my mouth to shut him up. Damon rolled his eyes and kept driving. The longer Bonnie focused, the closer we got to the boarding house and the faster Bonnie was breathing. She started to look scared, even with her eyes closed.

"Bonnie," I called, but she didn't respond. I put my hands on her shoulders to shake her but I pulled away when I felt her cold skin. They were burning cold. "Bons! Bons!" In the back, Cassie looked uncomfortable like something she didn't want to happen was happening.

"I feel her." Bonnie's eyes snapped open, not only scaring me, but scaring Damon too "She's in the backseat."

"Why were you freaking out like I was chasing you with my scary face on?" Damon questioned genuinely worried about Bonnie. I looked in the back for Cassie to make a witty comment about the big, bad vampire having feelings, but when I turned around, she wasn't there. I looked all around the car for her, but the ghost was nowhere in sight.

Bonnie struggled with her words. "I…just…I just wasn't expecting to feel that…?"

"Cold?" I offered. She nodded. Damon drove and we all didn't say another word to each other after that. I had the feeling Bonnie wasn't tell us the whole story, I knew that look. She saw something she really didn't want to see and then lied about it. But I waved it off because we were having a clean slate.

"We're here," Damon announced as we pulled up to the boarding house.

I agreed awkwardly, "Yup." Even when Damon parked and turned off the Jeep, we all just sat there in silence staring at the front of the driveway. That was until Damon and I heard Mason moaning in the back.

Damon stated, "He's awake! Better drag him in." Damon opened his door and hopped out. Bonnie put a hand on my arm (probably against everything in her body) and stared at me.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked.

"Because, I want to make up for my leave. I shouldn't have done that, it was dramatic," I lied. I needed to know where the moonstone was because Katherine wasn't giving me any insight on the whole progress of the plan.

"Really?"

"Bonnie, if this makes you feel better, I want to do it. I went with Katherine, I got myself killed, then I got myself killed again while you're over here helping everyone. I don't want to mess up our relationship any more than it is."

Bonnie smiled at me and nodded. I did the same back to her and got out of the car. I tried to help Damon get Mason, but he waved me off and told me to get his bag. I mocked him in a high voice, but followed his demand and followed him in the house.

"Here's his bag." I set down the bag on a chair. "As requested."

"Grab that corner," Damon requested to Bonnie.

"What are you doing?" She grabbed the corner like Damon and they pulled a tarp over the floor.

"Because I don't want to stain the carpet," Damon replied. I chuckled. Damon tied Mason up while Bonnie put her hands on his head. "What are _you _doing?"

"You wanted my help, I'm helping." Bonnie closed her eyes and concentrated on his thoughts. "The moonstone…it's somewhere small… Dark... Water…" Bonnie described.

"Like a sewer?" Damon suggested.

"No."

"Like a well?" I guessed.

"Yeah," Bonnie agreed. "No, that can't be right. Wait, it is."

"What is it doing in a well?" I questioned. Damon turned and shrugged.

Mason's hand jot out to grab Bonnie's wrist. I gasped and sped over there to rip his grip off of Bonnie. It wasn't like I was angry at Mason, I was just irritated. "Okay, I helped. I'm done." Bonnie fled over to the chair with Mason's things and was about to leave when Damon's voice stopped her.

"Hey Judgey? Thank you." Bonnie nodded at Damon, but continued walking. I sighed and thought about all our times together.

"Look at us, about to torture together. It's so sweet, right?"

"Shut up," Damon replied. _What now? _"I'm still mad at you for leaving."

"Damon, you compelled me for like a year."

"Eh!" Damon whined loudly. "Not even."

"You can't blame me for being mad at you because you literally controlled me to forget vampires. That's pretty big, Damon," I argued. "You would hate it if I compelled you to kill Jeremy."

Damon scoffed, "No I wouldn't."

"Yes, you would because at first it'd be fun, but then Elena would hate you so you'd never have a chance with your true love."

"Get off that theory," Damon snapped. "I'm not in love with Elena."

"Yes you are," I taunted.

Damon ignored me and decided to talk to Mason again. "C'mon, wolf boy! Wake up." Damon punched him, which made Mason wake up. "Start a fire."

I nodded and placed the wood so it could burn right before I lit a match and threw it into the hearth. Damon waited a few minutes before looking through Mason's bag and pulling out a metal poker.

"Ooh, Mason, why do you have these dangerous toys?" I asked playfully. Damon wagged it in his face and put it over the fire. "Damon, this will be amazing."

"Yes, it will," he agreed. "How do you think we should…_ask _him?"

"I think if he answers a question right, we give him a doggy treat." I smiled at Mason and winked at him. Suddenly, a sad expression washed over my face. "But if he answers wrong…"

"He gets the poker," Damon finished. I giggled. The excitement of the whole thing was making me energized. I loved being with Damon at all, but torture with Damon? That was something I was really looking forward to.

"So, what do you think? You wanna answer all the questions right?"

"Courtney, what are you doing?"

I waltzed over to Mason and sat on his lap, wrapping my hands around his neck. Since his arms were chained down, I wasn't worried. "I don't really know. Before my parents died, I was all happy in life, but then they did and I felt bad about everything. Elena was the only one who survived, for some reason, and both my loving parents were gone. For a little while, I wished it was Elena who died, but then I realized I loved my twin. Until she lied to me and I had to leave. So now, this is what I do in my free time. And guess what?" My tone was like I was talking to a baby. "You're my first _victim._" I tapped the end of Mason's nose playfully before getting up from his lap and standing next to Damon and the fire.

"Don't do this," Mason tried. "You were helping us. Helping Katherine." Damon's head whipped up to mine, but I wasn't worried.

I lied smoothly. "That was before I found out she was going to hurt my sister."

"You got it—"

I interrupted him by commenting, "It looks hot."

Mason began to thrash in the chair trying to break free of the chains.

"Ooh, someone's eager," Damon smiled. He pulled the poker from the fire and waved it in front of Mason's face. Mason tried to get loose even harder while Damon walked closer to him.

When Damon stopped, I walked closer, landed my hand on his shoulder, leaned my lips in closer to his ear and whispered, "This is going to be fun."

* * *

><p><strong>Hey, here you go! Sorry I was a poopturd and took so long, but I hope the length makes up for it. Alrighty, bye! Hope you enjoyed.<strong>

**katherineismikaelson**

**P.S. go to my profile for Courtney's outfits on Polyvore.**


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

I listened to Mason scream as Damon pushed the iron poker through his shoulder. I watched boringly as Mason and Damon talk about healing fast and more pain. It wasn't like I wanted to torture Mason, but I knew that if I asked him where the moonstone was, he'd spit on me and keep his mouth shut. This was the best way to get the location, even though Bonnie already had a location in mind. I just wanted to confirm that. Plus, I had to get Damon on my side and getting Damon's trust meant getting Stefan's trust and Stefan's was the main person I wanted to get on my side. Clearing that I was going to take Elena to Klaus with Stefan was the only reason I was even trying to make an effort to do anything with these people. When I saw them all helping each other at the Lockwoods', hidden anger, I didn't even know existed, came up and boiled in me. I was angry that they were still moving on with their lives even after what they did to me, but who could blame them really? I left and they weren't going to focus their lives on finding me, although, that was what it seemed like with Damon.

"How do you know Katherine? What did she promise you?" Damon inquired, breaking me out of my daze. Mason looked away and didn't answer Damon. He repeated himself.

Mason spit like it was poison in his mouth, "Why don't you ask Courtney over there? Maybe she'll give you a clue."

"No, I'm just as confused as Damon is over there," I replied, lying.

"Sure," Mason mumbled. "I saw you with her when we met up."

I made up an excuse right on the spot. "Yeah, I guess I was there. And she went off with you, leaving me lonely so I had to go entertain myself. When she came back, Katherine didn't say anything to me explaining, so no, Damon, don't ask me. I don't have a clue what's going on."

"You must be a very good liar," Mason chuckled humourlessly. "Because you're not telling the truth."

"Then what is the truth?" I threw my hands up in the air for good measure. Mason was actually getting on my nerves with questioning me. How dare he? I was trying to help his girlfriend, so if he could have kindly shut the hell up, that would've been great.

"The truth is you're tricking all these people into thinking that you're on their side when you're really not," Mason growls, "You are just like Katherine, you play everyone to get what you want. That's the truth."

I used my vampire speed to grab the iron poker from Damon (who was holding it over the fire and listening) to Mason where I poked it through his gut. I leaned close to his ear and demanded, "Listen up. The truth is Katherine screwed me over, killed me twice and left me with no insight on the situation. All I know is that she wants the moonstone. The truth is we're not letting you out of this seat until you tell us why she wants it and who she's going to fuck over to get it." Violently, I pulled the poker out of his gut and tossed it to Damon, who caught it smoothly. I walked back to the corner and said nothing more as Damon laughed.

"'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,'" Damon quoted.

"True that."

"So, you know Katherine how? And what does she want with the moonstone?" I repeated for Damon. Once again, Mason said nothing and Damon had to push the iron poker in his stomach.

"We have all day," he told Mason. Mason just stared back at us and made no effort to say anything. "Fine, I guess we have to do it the hard way. I wanted to do it the semi-easy way, but you just made everything worse for yourself."

Mason grit, "Fuck. You." I laughed.

"I'm sure you would like to," I retorted back. Damon smirked at me and held the iron poker over the fire.

"So, do you plan on saying sorry?" Damon asked.

"For what?"

"For snapping my neck and leaving me," he answered. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. _He's still hung up on that? What a sissy… _I wasn't planning on saying sorry anytime soon until he apologized and actually meant it. Before, Damon was just saying sorry to say sorry and get me to stop being angry with him, but now, I could kind of see the regret in his eyes.

"Damon, you deserve getting your neck snapped a million times because you're a dick," I said to him. "As for leaving you, you made me leave. Elena told you to compel me, but I'm your friend. Why would you do that to me?"

Damon chuckled. "We're still friends?"

"Yes, Damon. I count you as my friend," I confirmed with a fake smile and fake calmness.

"And you're still wearing the necklace I sent you." I looked down at the raven necklace I got in the package when I was in the apartment I shared with Katherine. I touched the necklace with remembrance of the moment I saw the note along with the thing itself. I walked closer to Damon to say something.

I mumbled, "Yeah…"

"I know it's confession session right now," Mason interrupted, "but do I really have to be here?"

Damon and I ignored him. "Lookie, Damon." I pointed to the poker. "Looks like it's warm enough."

Damon agreed, "Yes, looks like we can have some more fun, right Mason?" We both heard him struggle in his binds, trying to get out, but failing because no one can break Damon Salvatore's ties.

Damon walked over smoothly and pushed it in his stomach again. I giggled as I heard him groaning and trying not to yell out at the pain. _I can see why Damon is so sadistic…it's fun! _"How did you two meet?" Damon inquired. I actually wanted to know the answer myself. "Did she seduce you? You're supernatural so she couldn't have compelled you, but she can use her other charms." I laughed at what he had to say until I heard a heartbeat. My eyes flickered to the entrance of the room to see Jeremy carrying a box. I tried to avoid eye contact, but Jeremy kept staring at me. I didn't want my little brother to see me like this…I wasn't in my right mind. Jeremy didn't need to see me torturing a poor werewolf that got dragged into this whole mess because Katherine fucked up over 400 years ago, but he was here and I was torturing someone for answers I already knew. "I thought I told you to leave."

"Yeah, well, I found something in Ric's stuff," Jeremy answered, setting down the box on a table. Damon got up from his position in front of the fire and walked over to Jeremy and the box. I found myself sitting in front of Mason so I didn't have to just stand in the corner awkwardly.

Mason mouthed to me, 'What are you doing?'

I mouthed back, 'Playing along. Sorry about before." He gave me a look that screamed _Sure you are. _'I promise to get you out of here alive.' He looked confused so I had to repeat what I _mouthed. _He nodded and tried to get out again.

'Gotta keep up the act,' he mouthed. I smiled at him and looked away. I only hoped that I could actually get him out of there. Damon seemed like a kind of guy that didn't want to leave loose ends so he would like to take care of Mason and I was afraid of his definition of take care. Damon walked over with a plant in his hand (which Mason groaned at) that only rang up to be one thing in my mind: _Wolfsbane._

"What's Katherine doing in Mystic Falls?" Mason didn't answer; he just stared at Damon with a mournful look. Damon shrugged and started to rub the plant on Mason's skin, which caused it to sizzle and for him to groan. I knew an iron poker to the stomach was bad enough, but directly touching wolfsbane must have been hell.

I looked over to Jeremy who looked uncomfortable to see Mason getting tortured. By that time, I was standing up and at Damon's side. I was going to tell him to stop with this and that we should just ask him questions without the added pain for a little, but he didn't let me talk. "Why is she here?" Damon repeated.

"She's here with me," Mason replied back quickly. "Why are you asking? You jealous?" I had to hold back my giggle. I tried to act like I had a straight face, but I let slip a small smirk at Mason's comment.

"How rude of me," Damon said, "I didn't offer you anything to eat, I just realized." Damon shoved the plant in Mason's open mouth and that was when I drew the line.

"Damon, stop," I demanded. Damon pulled his hand back and Mason sputtered out blood and the wolfsbane. I looked away from Mason and wondered why I didn't stop this before. I knew Mason as a small child, I even called him _Uncle Mason. _Why was I treating him like this? Why was I standing there and watching Damon torture my childhood friend? I looked back at Jeremy who tried to look away from Mason.

"Mason, just tell us," I said.

"I'm telling the truth," he spit back.

'I'm sorry,' I mouthed. 'I'll get him to pull back.' Mason didn't nod but I knew that he agreed with me through his eyes.

"Why do you want the moonstone?"

"Fuck you," Mason groaned again. Damon imitated a buzzer.

"Wrong answer," he denied.

"If he was going to say anything, he would have said it already." Jeremy stepped forward to stop Damon before I got to do it. I silently nodded my head at Jeremy for standing up to Damon, sadly, Damon ignored Jeremy.

"Now, I'm taking your eyes." Damon pointed the wolfsbane at Mason's left eye. I put my hand on Damon's arm to pull it back, but he shook me off. I crossed my arms and looked away so I wouldn't have to see his expression. Luckily, Damon ignored me and continued interrogating Mason.

"The well!" Mason admitted. "You can find the moonstone there."

"I know where it is," Damon retorted back. "I just want to know what it does and why you have it."

"I'm getting it for Katherine," Mason answered.

I was about to yell why the hell he would tell Damon that, but I restrained myself. I wasn't going to blow my cover then. But I stared at Mason with an angry expression as he talked to Damon more. _Why is he giving up now? Doesn't he still love Katherine, or something?_

Damon asked, "Why?"

"Because she wants to lift the curse." I sighed internally at his answer. _Damn werewolves. Always wanting to save their own asses…_

"Of the moon?" Damon questioned. "Now why would a vampire like her want to help a werewolf turn whenever they want? There's no logic behind that."

"Because she loves me." _Thank you, God! He actually has some sense. Unless she didn't tell him the real truth… _Damon started laughing at Mason's answer.

"Now I get it," I said, really feeling what I was about to say. I stepped forward. "You're just stupid." Katherine didn't love him. She was just using him to get what she wanted and she lied to him. Katherine didn't want anything from him except the moonstone and his love.

"Katherine doesn't love you," Damon finished for me. "She's using you, dumbass."

"I'm done talking," Mason said, kind of cutely.

"Yes, you are," Damon confirmed, staring at Mason. He handed Jeremy the wolfsbane. I had a feeling that Damon was about to do something irrational. "Time to take a walk, Little Gilbert."

"I'm staying," Jeremy denied. I almost wanted to yell at him to listen for once and get out. Whatever Damon had in mind, I didn't want Jeremy seeing it. I knew I sounded like Elena, but I had to agree with her. I didn't want Jeremy getting caught up in this which could lead to his death. Jeremy deserved a better life than this.

"No, you're not," Damon argued. "You need to go."

"I'm staying and he's had enough," Jeremy said boldly. I wanted to smile at my brother, but I didn't because some shit was about to go down.

"Just help Tyler," Mason pleaded to Jeremy. "Both of you." His face turned towards me. I shook my head.

"No, Mason, you're not dying," I assured. Then I turned to Damon who was still looking at Mason and snapped, "He's not dying. Not today."

"Don't let this happen to him," Mason continued on.

"Damon…" Jeremy didn't get to finish his sentence when Damon pinned him up against a chair by his neck. I didn't have enough time to react before Damon started saying, "You wanted to be a part of it, well here it is. It's kill or be killed."

"Damon," I hissed and threw him back off of my brother. Jeremy started coughing, trying to get air to his lungs. "Don't ever do that again."

Damon continued even though I had told him to stop. "Mason is a werewolf and he would have killed me the first chance he got. So buck up or leave."

"Damon," I warned. "Don't talk to him like that."

"He needs to learn, Court," Damon tried. "He needs to learn that life isn't always sunshine and daisies."

"Fuck you for thinking that you could tell him like that," I growled. Damon shrugged and turned back to Mason. "Don't you dare."

"He wants me to kill him anyway, don't you Mason?" Mason didn't answer. "It really is the curse, isn't it?" Jeremy got up to leave the room, like I wanted him to. I tried to say something to him, but he waved me off and left. "I look at you and see myself, you know that? The less dashing, less intelligent version, but me."

"I love her," Mason said back.

"Oh, I know!" Damon replied back. "I've been where you are, and let me tell you, in the end, it sucks balls, buddy. You have no chance of ever being with her because she's just using you. You're just a pond in her bigass game of chess. But in the end, she'll rip your heart out." Damon leant forward to Mason. "Let me do it for her."

I screamed, "No!" But I was too late. Damon already pushed his hand in Mason's chest and pulled it back out with is fingers curled around a heart. I pushed Damon out of the way of Mason and put my hands on his face. I stared at him with loving eyes, remembering the times we had when I was a child with Tyler. "No, no, no, you can't die. Not now."

But Damon was right. After Katherine got what she wanted, she would only rip his heart out. I was naïve to think that she wouldn't.

Damon got up from his spot on the floor where I threw him and vamp sped over to me to put his hand on my shoulder, but I recoiled. "You are a fucking dick. You don't just kill people!" I screamed. I watched Mason's life slowly fade away.

"Sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do," he responded. I got up and pushed him towards the fire all in less than a second. A tear slipped from my eye.

"'You gotta do what you gotta do?'" I questioned. "That's what you have to say to me? This is why I snapped your neck. Because you 'do' before you think. You asshole. He was my friend as a child. I always played with him and Tyler when he was over."

"I'm sorry," Damon apologized truthfully.

I tried to hit him, but he was fast enough to catch my hands. I let the tears fall free as I pounded on his chest softly. "I can't believe you just did that." Damon wrapped his arms around me into a hug when he knew I was no longer pounding on his chest hard.

"Shh…" he demanded softly. "You're okay. You're okay."

"No, I'm not. I just tortured someone for the first time, Damon. I am so not cut out for this," I sobbed. _Oh, god, I'm turning into one of those soft, angst teens. Suck it up, Raina. Courtney. This is how life is and that's what happens when you run with Damon or Katherine _or _Klaus._

"You didn't deserve to have to watch that. You deserve a better friend," Damon mumbled into my hair.

"Yeah, I do," I replied back. I looked up into his eyes. "But I have you. But I guess I have it just as good." Damon smiled at me and kissed me on the forehead. At that moment, I felt happy even though I just witnessed my friend get killed by my other friend. I decided it was 'confession session' (name courtesy of Mason Lockwood, I owe it all to him) time, so I admitted, "Damon, I killed someone twice while I was gone."

"We all do it."

"But I'm me and you're you," I argued. "You can deal with the guilt, but I can't. I feel like shit and I act like shit. I killed someone twice and then I just tortured someone I knew my whole life all for something we could have just asked the woman herself. Damon, I'm a bad person."

Damon replied, "Then we can be bad people together." I heard someone come in the room with heels on.

"Courtney!" A familiar voice squealed. A smile bloomed on my face as I turned out of Damon's arms to face Caroline Forbes. I vamp sped over to her to give her a hug. She hugged me back, disregarding that I used speed that a human didn't possess. "Courtney, I missed you so much! I am so sorry we were kept out of the loop."

"Caroline," I rejoiced back, "I'm so sorry I wasn't here for when you turned."

"It's okay. I might have attacked you because you're…" Caroline's voice trailed off. I knew she realized that I wasn't still human. She pulled back to look at me and I put on a supportive smile. "You're a vampire too?"

"Katherine killed me," I confirmed.

"She killed me too," Caroline answered. I nodded.

"I heard."

Caroline let her arms drop from my sides so I did the same with mine. "I…um... I really missed you and I get why you left, but right now I have to go see my mom. I'll come back up when I'm done, alright?"

"I'm actually going home after I say goodnight to Damon," I told Caroline.

"Okay, then I'll call you?" I nodded. "Just don't let that goodnight kiss lead to goodnight sex."

I stared at Caroline with wide eyes while I listened to Damon laugh behind me. "You think Damon and I are something?" Caroline nodded her head confused at my outbreak. "Hell, no!" I denied loudly.

"C'mon, Courtney. You know sometimes you're attracted to me," Damon joked behind me. I turned back to Damon with a wild look on my face.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, I'll leave you two to your lovers' spat." I heard Caroline's footsteps retreat downstairs to the basement where I was guessing her mom was. Damon just kept laughing at Caroline's assumption and my expression. I obviously never had feeling for Damon, if anyone, I would have picked Stefan, since he was the more sensible brother. Although, he had that whole 'Ripper' phase that Klaus loved and was obsessed with.

"Damon, I would never have feeling for you, you know that right?" He just smiled at me. "I would pick Stefan. It would always be Stefan." Damon's smile left his face and his gleeful expression was replaced with pain. It confused me a whole lot but I realized that it was because both Katherine and Elena picked Stefan over him. "But Elena's with Stefan, so I guess I have to settle for you," I added playfully. Damon's smirk returned. I hugged him.

"You love me," he said.

"You love Elena. We all want the ones we can't have."

With that comment, I left to go home to get some sleep in my own bed.

* * *

><p>When I arrived home, there was no one, but I smelled blood. I followed the scent to the kitchen where there was blood on the ground and a bloodied knife on the counter. "What the hell happened here?" I wondered quietly out loud. Suddenly, my phone started ringing.<p>

_Katy calling._

"Katherine…" I answered.

"Yeah," she sounded conflicted. "I'm sorry about your aunt."

"What about my aunt?" I demanded.

"I had to. I had to do what I had to do to get through to Elena," Katherine said. She sounded sincere about the apology, but I was still confused.

"What are you talking about? Come on, Katherine, out with it."

Katherine just admitted it all. "I compelled Jenna to stab herself with a knife."

"You bitch!" I exclaimed. "Why the hell would you do that?" Of course, Katherine screws me over again because she just has to get a message through to everyone she comes across. It was actually getting annoying, her ways. I was thinking of just slapping some sense into her and threaten to tell everyone about her master plan.

"_Raina_, Elena was getting on my nerves, I have a reputation to uphold," Katherine tried.

"_Katerina, Тя ми е леля твърде." _The words fell freely out of my mouth which translated to, "She is my aunt too."

"Good Bulgarian, but that's the modern way," Katherine congratulated. "We didn't speak it like that before."

"Stop trying to change the subject, you little _кучка,"_ I snapped into the phone to Katherine. "You better start ignoring when Elena doesn't do something you want because you sound like a four year old throwing a hissy fit. Suck it up and just go on with the plan."

"Fine," Katherine agreed. She said 'Oh, my god' in Bulgarian. "О, Боже мой."

"Goodnight, Katherine. I'll get you the moonstone by tomorrow." I hung up on Katherine before she could say anything and I ran to the hospital. I started to walk when I got to the entrance because I didn't want any questions. In the waiting room, I found Elena and Jeremy talking to each other intently.

"Is she okay?" Jeremy asked, from a distance.

"The doctors say she was lucky," Elena replied.

"Thank god," I rejoiced when I got close enough for them to hear me. Elena rushed over to hug me, letting her neck freely hit my nose. Luckily, I held myself back from smelling her blood just to dip my fangs into her neck and suck her blood. I don't want to brag, but that's skill. Some bad-motherfucking-ass skill.

"She's going to make it, she's going to be okay," Elena informed me. I pulled away to look her in the eyes and wipe away the few tears that escaped her eyes.

"Does she remember anything?" Jeremy inquired.

"No, it's all apart of Katherine's compulsion," Elena said. I just stood there and listened.

"Why would Katherine hurt Jenna?"

"Because she's trying to get a message through."

I but in. "A message that she's not playing shit."

"That she can get to anybody," Elena cried. Of course, Jeremy goes to comfort Elena because Elena always comes first when it comes to feelings. I realized that it would never change, even if I wanted to. Even if someone else wanted it to. Elena would always be first on the list. I'd have to come second. That was how it always was and how it would always be.

"She's going to pay, Elena," Jeremy told her as he held _her _in his arms. "I don't know how, but she is definitely going to pay." That wasn't supposed to scare me really, coming from my little brother, but it really did. I didn't want anything to happen to Katherine, even if she did just compel my aunt to basically just kill herself. Katherine was my family and that meant something to me. Jenna was my family and so was Elena and Jeremy, but for some reason, I was always going to be more on Katherine's side. Whether it was because I felt more appreciated with Katherine or that she was more of my direct family, but I felt that Katherine didn't take me for granted. And for that, I didn't want her to pay, as much as she deserved it.

* * *

><p><em>I found myself walking down rock steps to an open area where there was an entrance to a cave. I looked down at my hand and found a bottle full of blood in my hand and a phone in my other. Katherine came walking out of the dark to the entrance.<em>

_"I was wondering when you were coming," Katherine said, sitting down at the entrance. "Your sister was just here. She was wondering about our family."_

_"They don't know I'm here," I made up, trying to sound like I knew what I was talking about and knew what I was doing. I was having another one of those dreams that told the future. I was hoping this one wasn't going to come true. I could tell by the way Katherine looked, tired and pale, that she was stuck. She didn't walk out to greet me and get up all in my face. No, she walked out of the shadows and stopped at the very entrance like she knew that she couldn't leave no matter what she did._

_"Just like your Elena, being all secretive," Katherine commented with enthusiasm. "I guess like sister like other sister."_

_"Katherine, you know you'll eventually go crazy being in here. And you'll run out of blood."_

_"But I have you to come visit me and bring me blood so I don't run out or go insane," Katherine smiled. I could tell that she wasn't sincere about staying in there. Katherine was the kind of girl you couldn't contain and if you did, you'd get some shit from her. Katherine wasn't going to sit there and wait, she was going to beg Stefan and Damon to let her out and offer them something they couldn't refuse._

_"Do you want me to find a way to get you out?"_

_"Yes!" she exclaimed. I laughed and rolled the bottle in._

_"Watch it!" Katherine warned, picking up the bottle."If you even put a foot in here, you'll be stuck. Since you're a vampire." I got it. If you were a vampire, then that meant you would get stuck. This was the tomb Katherine was talking about. This was the tomb Damon dragged me to to free Katherine and it turned out she wasn't even in it. I remembered how broken he was when he realized she wasn't in here. He freaked out and he didn't even feel. He was angry and scared at the same time. I could see the feelings in his face. If she wasn't there, where was she? Did she actually die in the fire? Apparently not. She was guzzling down a bottle of blood right in front of me._

_"Yeah," I agreed quietly._

_"What?"_

_"I'm just thinking of how I could get you out."_

_Katherine offered bitterly, "Maybe you could call up your _boo_ and get me the hell out of here. He can call up one of his bitch witches and then I could be home free. We both know he'd do anything for you." A shiver ran through my body and I felt a little weird. I felt like there was something I was missing. I couldn't hear the birds' winds flapping any more or Katherine's hair rustling against the tomb's rocks._

_"Yeah, sure..." Katherine opened her mouth to say something witty, but she stopped and looked surprised. I ignored it and thought about Klaus. I wonder if he found Elena yet. I knew she wasn't sacrificed yet because Katherine just mentioned she went to visit her at the tomb, but I wondered. How was he doing? Was he still looking or was he fine with just being an Original? Did he finally give up his stupid dream of becoming an Original hybrid and making his own little army of hybrids? And was he with his family being the great people I knew they could be?_

_"Courtney, I can—"_

_I interrupted her by saying, "Shut up, Katherine. I'm thinking." She tried again._

_"Courtney—"_

_"Katherine, shut it!" Katherine continued to make me even more angry when she tried talking again while I wondered about Klaus. "Stop, just stop!" Suddenly, I felt heat around me._

_"Courtney," Katherine started, looking scared. I actually let her finish. "I think you just started a fire circle around yourself." I looked around to see flames so close to licking my skin and grazing my clothes. "Courtney." Someone was shaking me. Katherine's face and all the scene around me slowly started to fade away and all I felt was the heat of the flames. They touched my arms like hands. "Courtney. Courtney. Courtney!"_

I woke up to see Elena's face staring at me. I gasped when I felt the tears of Elena fall on my cheeks. She was sitting on my bed, leaning over me. I found myself wiping away her tears and wrapping my arms around her. Before I knew it, Elena was under the covers with me and she was crying in my arms. It reminded me of the times she had bad dreams or I had bad dreams and we went to each other's beds instead of our parents'.

"What happened?"

"I had to break up with Stefan," she sobbed. I sighed when I realized what that meant. She broke up with him because Katherine said so. I would have to talk to her about that. Stefan was never going to love her because she fucked him over to much and she messed with Elena. Stefan and Elena's love was...epic. They loved each other more than I have ever seen two people love each other. The loved each other with burning passion and Katherine ruined it. If Elena and Stefan were going to break up, I didn't want to see it happen _that _way. She deserved him; he deserved her.

"I'm so sorry, hon," I apologized.

"I am too. But she won and there's nothing we can do about it," Elena cried, quiet enough for a human not to hear, but a vampire like me could pick up.

"Katherine hasn't won. We are Gilberts and we won't give up." Elena laughed but didn't say anything. "Do you want to sleep here tonight?" I felt Elena nod. "Okay, let's sleep this off."

"Okay," she mumbled. We both snuggled into the positions we found ourselves comfortable with. I was in the position facing my door. I was about to fall asleep, close my eyes, when Cassie appeared in my room.

She said nothing but, "Witch."


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

I woke up to the sound of voices downstairs. I groggily looked to my side and found no one in the spot where Elena fell asleep. I remembered Cassie and suddenly snapped my head over to the direction of her and all I found was an empty space. I was a little scared to be honest. What Cassie said knocked me out cold for some reason and I had a dreamless sleep, but I could remember the surprise and anger in her voice when she accused me of being a witch. It was nerve-wrecking, hearing from a ghost that you were a witch and then before that, having a dream about being a witch. I was only hoping that dream wouldn't happen. I was hoping the future would change for that because I didn't want to find out I was a witch because that didn't make sense at all. Just because I was a witch, it didn't mean that I could use my powers. Turning into a vampire cancelled out the witch powers because I was technically dead and being 'alive' was against the rules of nature. Witches were all about balance of nature. They were _Balance of Nature _freaks and did anything they could to keep stability in the whole supernatural thing, but they were obviously failing because I cheated death _twice._

I could hear Elena and Jenna talking about something, but I didn't care to make out the words. All I focused on was what I was wearing to the masquerade and what Katherine was doing. I picked myself out of bed and headed to the bathroom to do my morning routine: go to the bathroom, take a shower and brush my teeth. I took a quick three minute shower instead of my fifteen minute and threw on a black and green checkered top with some ripped black skinny jeans and a pair of black, heeled tie-up shoes. I was ready to get out of there, but I couldn't go downstairs where everyone was. After I jumped out the window and safely made it four houses away, I dialed Katherine's number.

"I visited Barbie Vampire today," Katherine answered. "She was totally entertaining."

"What did you say to her?" I asked suspiciously. If Katherine visited Caroline, then that was a problem. I had to make sure Katherine didn't let slip anything about me working with her because I knew she was that kind of person to snitch on someone. Someone like me who was being a two-timer. "I swear, if you said anything to hurt her, I'll—"

"You'll what?" Katherine scoffed. "_Kill me?_"

"Don't tempt me," I joked. "But seriously, what did you say to her?"

"I just said that I wanted the moonstone by tonight at the masquerade ball," Katherine replied simply.

"I said I'd get it for you," I snapped into the phone. It angered me slightly that she wouldn't trust me enough. I was a good companion and I kept my word. All I had to do was ask Damon to see the damn thing, distract him and then go off with it. It wasn't even that hard. "What? Did you threaten her?"

"No, yes, I don't remember. But you know, I've always got to have a Plan B in case you fail me."

"Thanks, now I know how much you believe in me," I thanked sarcastically.

"Honey, it's nothing personal," Katherine objected. I mumbled in Bulgarian _"My god." _"But I trust you to get your sister and Klaus."

"Sure, I'll do that." I tried to change the subject. "Speaking of the ball, what are we wearing?"

"Oh, my god," Katherine breathed. "I almost forgot. You have to get your pretty ass over here so I can show you what we're wearing. I got this guy who knew this other guy whose cousin own this shop and he set us up with the most beautiful dresses," Katherine gushed. I giggled at Katherine's enthusiasm. Only she and Caroline would get this excited about dresses.

"Okay, I'll be over there in three, two, one." I was standing in front of Katherine who had her back to me. Katherine hung up and turned around slowly. "I'm getting better at this, right?"

"Sure," she agreed half-heartedly. "You need to see these."

Katherine led me over to the bed where I looked at two dresses lying there perfectly. They were both so breathtaking, I had to be cliché and put my hand to my mouth. The first dress lying there was a simple black cocktail dress that had a diamond cutout at the stomach, just below the chest. I wanted to wear it to the gates of hell and beyond. The next dress was a black lace that fell to the knees and had lace flowers covering the whole body.

"_Katerina Petrova_, _Ние ще разгледаме горещо_," I whispered, causing her to giggle. _We will look hot._

"Yes, Raina, we will." Suddenly, Katherine wasn't at my side, she's pushed someone against the wall of her hotel room. I turned around to see Katherine holding a woman by her neck. "Lucy, you shouldn't sneak up on _two _vampires."

"Katherine," the woman mocked back in the same warning tone, "You shouldn't attack a witch." Katherine let up on her grip and smiled. "It's nice to see you, girl." The woman had dark skin with long, brownish hair that curled at the end. Katherine ended up hugging the woman. To say the least, I was confused. Katherine literally just attacked her, but now she's giving her some sugar? I just don't get these vampires…

"Katherine, care to introduce me?" I asked suggestively. Katherine let go of Lucy and sighed. I could tell she was annoyed with me.

"Lucy, this is—"

"I know you, you're Elena," Lucy said.

"Nope, the other, cooler twin," I corrected playfully. Even witches knew Elena first and me second.

"What other twin?"

"Courtney Gilbert," I frowned. Lucy's features clouded with a mix between familiarity and fear.

"Oh," was all Lucy said back. Katherine looked just as confused as I was. There was some kind of thing going on with me. The witches in New Orleans didn't really acknowledge me when they found out something and so did Lucy.

"Lucy, if you have to say something, spit it out," Katherine demanded, crossing her arms. Lucy shook her head and waved it off.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is what's going to happen tonight," Lucy changed the subject. "I came because you asked me to."

"You came because you didn't have a choice," Katherine corrected and I had to hold back my laugh. Lucy smiled at Katherine sarcastically and walked over to the dresses on the bed. Slowly, she ran her fingers over each. Katherine suggested, "Why don't you come to the Masquerade Ball with us?"

"Yeah," I played along, even though I had no idea what was going on, "Why don't you? We'll get the moonstone and then we can deal with what comes next." Katherine nodded at me like I did the right thing while Lucy gave me a look of disappointment. Lucy opened her mouth to say something, but the ringing of my phone cut her off. I put my pointer finger to tell them one second and answered my phone. "Damon, what?"

"What's got you in a mood?" Damon inquired playfully.

"You interrupted me while I was looking at my dress," I replied smoothly. "So, what do you want?"

"Can't I just call my best friend to talk?"

"Sure," I agreed sarcastically. "Damon, how are you doing today? Are you good? Great, because I really didn't care. So, what do you want?"

"Obviously it's that time of month," Damon mumbled, knowing I could hear him.

"I'm a vampire, dumbass," I argued sounding snappy. "I don't have that."

"Yeah, but you might have turned back into a human." I froze at his words and looked at Lucy. I knew she was a witch and that she couldn't exactly hear what we were talking about like Katherine could, but I just wanted to make sure she wasn't really listening. When I looked at her alarmed, her head perked up; she was curious. "Yeah, Stefan told me about that. We had a very intense conversation about you returning. Long story short, we're both happy you're back." Katherine snapped her fingers and used a finger to whirl in a circle trying to communicate to wrap up my conversation up with Damon.

"Damon, get to your point," I demanded and Katherine smiled at my words.

"Fine, Miss Period, you need to get your ass over here because we have some things to talk about," Damon explained. "It's about our little Pierce problem." Katherine rolled her eyes and mumbled "Of course."

"Sure, I'll be right over." I hung up on Damon and looked at Katherine for further elaboration. When Katherine didn't say anything, I said, "So, I'm going to head over there and see what I can gather."

Katherine agreed, sighing, "Okay, good. Maybe they'll let slip their plan for tonight. I think they're planning on killing me."

"Okay, so what do you want me to do to protect you?" Lucy crossed her arms.

"I don't know," Katherine snapped. "You're the witch."

"Maybe a linking spell," I suggested. "Lucy, link Katherine to an innocent bystander and since Stefan and Elena are all moral, they won't kill you _and _some human."

"That is why I chose you," Katherine rejoiced, putting her hands on my shoulder. I didn't smile like I was happy Katherine was proud of me, I just rolled my eyes and mumbled, "Of course."

"Alright, good idea," Lucy agreed. I smiled at her. She looked at me with disapproving eyes, but she didn't say anything. That caused me to frown. "I'll get right on that, but who do you want me to link you to?"

"Hmm?" Katherine put her hand on her chin and pretended to think. "Maybe I'll use little Matty Donovan."

"Hell no, you won't," I objected quickly and Katherine tilted her head because of this. "Leave Matt out of _all _of this. He doesn't deserve to get pulled into our crap."

"Oh, yeah, that reminds me. I kind of compelled little Matty boy to fight Tyler until he kills Matt, but that's no big deal right?" I lunged at Katherine and wrapped my fingers around her neck. Lucy did nothing to stop it.

"If you think I'm going to let you get away with that, not only are you a bitch, but you're also a dumbass," I hissed. "So, you better call him up and stop him from doing that and compel him to forget that. Matt is not getting caught up in my bull. In any of our crap." That wasn't going to fly with me. Matt was going to stay human and he wasn't going to get killed or turned into a vampire. Matt had done everything he could to have a normal life and succeed and I wasn't about to let a selfish bitch ruin that for him. Matt deserved so much better than this stupid town, so did Vicki. Vicki didn't deserve to die and Matt didn't deserve to lose his sister.

"Alright, girlie," Katherine agreed. She grabbed me by the wrist and gently, but firmly, guided my hand away from her neck. "I'm sorry about compelling your boy toy."

"Screw you, Katherine. I'll see you, tonight." I was out of the apartment by the time Katherine could open her mouth. Sometimes she just got me so worked up and I couldn't even keep myself together. I never wanted Caroline dragged into it, I didn't want Elena dragged into it, even if she was _required _for the sacrifice. I wanted to change Klaus, make him forget that he was out for Katherine so she could be free and make him forget about being a hybrid. I wanted to convince him that being an Original vampire was enough and having family was enough, but he was too far. There was no redemption for him.

I was at the Salvatore Boarding House by the time Bonnie was walking up to the steps. "Hey, Bons," I greeted. Bonnie smiled at me genuinely, forgetting I was her natural enemy. I was hoping we could get past the whole vampire/witch relationship we had and go back to being the usual best friends we were before all of this. It seemed so good so far; she was being friendly at first. But I had a feeling if _they _ever found out that I had a relationship with Klaus knowing his plans _and _I was working with Katherine, I'd be on the outs, just the same way I shut them out.

"Hey, you here because Damon called you?"

"Yeah," I confirmed. "I wonder what it's all about. I have a feeling it has something to do with the downfall of Katherine Pierce." Bonnie nodded and I looked at the book in her hands. It was big and bulky, but old and weathered. "Is that your grimoire?"

"Yeah, my Grams gave it to me to practice," Bonnie said. An awkward silence fell over us. "Okay, I know you're a vampire," Bonnie started, breaking the silence. "And that I'm a witch, but I don't want to have us like this. I missed you and I'm glad your back."

"Bonnie, I was mad," I admitted truthfully. "And I regret ever leaving our little town because I was pouting and I'm sorry for ignoring when you were going through that pain of missing your Grams. Bonnie, you're my best friend, I love you and I forgive you." I was telling the absolute truth. I did regret leaving because I was a drama queen. I wanted to stay there and make sure that Bonnie, Jeremy and Elena were going to be fine, especially Caroline since she was now a vampire, but I didn't so I had to let go of the past and live for the future.

"It's okay, I'm just glad you're back." Bonnie went to hug me, but stopped when she realized that was almost impossible with the giant grimoire in her hands. We shared a laugh with each other because of it, just like the old days.

Damon opened the door to the both of us talking about the new shoes Lily Walker was wearing at the park. I didn't see it, but I could just picture that shortass whore walking in those seven inch heels on the street corner. Hitch-hiking hoe. She was of course two grades above us because if she wasn't, she'd be underage. But we all knew, even the freshmen, she would not be getting any customers any time soon. Lily was pretty—without the fifty pounds of makeup she added every morning to make her look like a drunken Effie.

"Look at you two, bonding," Damon commented sarcastically. "I hate to ruin the _Best Friend Reunion_, but we have other vampires to deal with. Come in." Damon stepped out of the way and let us in. Bonnie looked disgusted at Damon's sarcastic behavior while I was amused. Damon's sass was one of the things I liked the most about him. Damon leads us to the living room where Jeremy, Caroline, Alaric and Stefan are standing.

"Damn, everyone's here except my dear sister," I commented, standing next to Jeremy. Ric acknowledged me by nodding his head. I did the universal _"S'up?" _nod. "Where is Elena?"

"She's…not here," Stefan answered instead. He looked troubled and hurt. I couldn't really blame him; he just broke up with Elena for someone who he got over a long time ago, but she wasn't over him. I looked over to Damon and Ric looking at the weapons he had. _Damn, how the hell does he not have the urge to just shove the state through our hearts? I know I would if a vampire turned my wife… Courtney, that sounds weird. _I snapped out of talking to myself when Bonnie started talking.

"What are we doing here?"

"We're going to kill Katherine," Jeremy stated plainly. My eyes widened at the thought and I coughed to hide my surprise. Only Stefan turned to look at me and check if I was okay. _Aw, he's sweet…too bad we have to take him out._

"I can explain," Stefan objected, putting his finger up.

"Please," I said, trying not to seem that surprised.

"We're going to kill Katherine," Stefan restated. I threw my arms up in the air and shook my head. There was no way they were going to kill my grandmother, over my dead body. _Oh, a pun…because I'm already dead. Okay, tough crowd._

_You're talking to yourself, Courtney._

_Well, I didn't laugh._

_That was your own joke._

_I still didn't laugh._

Jeremy left my side to go over to Alaric and listen to him explain the weapons on the table. I had the urge to call my sister and demand if she knew about it or call Katherine and warn her. I was a little conflicted. I could help my friend Damon kill the woman who broke his heart, or I could help my family who was on the run and promised to help me in return. You can guess who won. But, I had to play along so I wouldn't blow my cover and get Katherine so mad, she'd kill me again. Although, I was kind of hoping that if she killed me once more, I was human and had vampire blood in my system.

Bonnie, too, headed over to Alaric and listened to him explain the weapons. I just looked down at my feet and tried to come up with a plan. If they were going to kill Katherine, that meant I wasn't going to get the moonstone and Elena so I could break the goddamn curse for Klaus and he could get over the silly mess and be with me. So, I was being a little selfish. Maybe the whole "breaking the curse" plan wasn't just all about Katherine; maybe I wanted to have something for myself for once and be happy. Was that so fucking bad? (Sorry, kids, I shouldn't really curse like that.)

Stefan whistled to get my attention and when my head was facing him, he gave me a look of concern. I had to put on my "Everything's okay" face and just go with the flow. I waved off Stefan and joined Caroline around the table.

Alaric personally assisgned weapons to people and when it came to me, he recommended the plain wooden stake, like Caroline. Caroline refused to get in the mess of killing Katherine (she just wanted to "trick the bitch") because she wasn't that kind of person. But when Alaric recommended it to me, I just said plainly, "Nope, I'll just rip out her heart." Everyone stared at me, including Damon, like I was crazy and that vampirism changed me. I just flashed them all a smile because I was an asshole like that. Stefan gave me that stupid look of concern he had going on and Damon smiled back at me.

"Okay," Alaric sighed.

"You know what this game is going to be called?" I said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Game?" Damon inquired while at the same time Stefan said, "What?"

I ignored Damon and turned to his younger brother. "_Down with the Whore."_

"You know," Stefan started, grabbing my arm. "I personally like that." I smiled at him. Stefan led me out of the room and pulled out his phone. He texted furiously and suddenly my phone beeped in my pocket.

_New message from Stefan:_

_What's going on with you?_

I texted back:

_I'm just…dealing with…_

I had to make up a story that Stefan would believe. Stefan being Stefan (kind of like Elena being Elena), worried about me. He was my friend, it was his job, but his kind of worrying would get us both killed by Katherine. If he found out, he'd not only kill me, he'd resurrect me from the dead just to yell at me and repeat his first action. Stefan was my friend, but he loved Elena with all his heart and hated Katherine with all his soul. I was fucking dead meat when it came to Katerina Petrova and Stefan Salvatore.

_New message from Stefan:_

_What?_

Me:

_With being a vampire…_

"Oh," Stefan sighed out loud. I looked up at him and nodded. At first, Stefan made no effort to move, but then suddenly, his arms were around me. "I know, it's hard at first. You want to rip everyone's throats out, but it gets better, I promise." At that moment, I knew why Elena loved Stefan. He was supportive and protective. Just like her. Stefan was the perfect friend and I loved him for it. Mind you, I barely knew the guy and I wasn't _in _love with him, but Stefan, he just gave me that feeling of security.

"Thanks," I lied. Stefan was great and all, but I was perfectly fine being a vampire. I had handled all those urges and shit a long time ago and I was great being around humans. Sure, every time it got quiet, I could hear their blood pumping throughout their body and sure I wanted to cut them and bleed them out slowly, putting them in my fridge to keep cold, but it wasn't like I was actually going to do it.

"Let's get back."

We both walked back into the living room to everyone's eyes staring at us. It did occur to me that Stefan's arm was wrapped around my waist and I was enjoying it, but the bigger problem was the giant smirk Damon had on his face looking at us and the bigass scowl Jeremy had on his lips. I was fucked. Someone was going to report to Elena that I was hunting down her man and then we'd all get into a big fuss about Elena's feelings; Damon would yell at me, Stefan would be supportive and then Caroline would tell me I was wrong. Jeremy would shut me out, Ric and Bonnie would tell me I was wrong going for Stefan and Katherine would slowly rip me limb from limb. And we were only friends.

"Hey, guys," I greeted, stepping away from Stefan's grip. He willingly let me go and we shared an embarrassed look, but I could tell he found the amusement in the whole situation like I did.

"Stefan, can I talk to you?" Bonnie asked. Stefan agreed by walking over to her and they both walked out the living room together. Damon strutted, and I mean _strutted _over to me and leaned in close to my ear.

"Do I smell an affair?"

"No, you don't," I denied harshly. Stefan was great and all, but he literally just broke up with his girlfriend, my sister, and he was my friend. There was nothing going on there. "He was just being caring. Unlike you."

Damon argued, "Hey, I care about you."

"Just as much as the heels I'm wearing that are giving me a blister." I walked away from Damon and waited for Bonnie and Stefan to come back so we could further elaborate on the whole plan. I listened to Stefan and Bonnie as they talked about trapping Katherine and how far she went. I had to agree, going for Jenna was bullshit. Katherine should have known that that was not going to fly with me, but she did it anyway. I planned to avenge Jenna, but killing her, she was my family. I wasn't going to let any of my family die.

"So, we got a plan?" I inquired as Stefan and Bonnie returned.

"Yup," Stefan agreed. "Bonnie traps her with a spell and then we go in for the kill, literally."

"I get to do the honors," I lied.

"What? No, I do," Damon argued. I stared at him like he was crazy and he just did the eye thing he always did. Then I realized we were all kind of in a circle around the coffee table. "Katherine has screwed me over. I deserve this."

I scoffed. "Katherine KILLED me. Twice. I get to do it."

"Touché."

"So, am I going?" Ric requested and left his space beside me to go stand somewhere _else _in the circle. _Thanks, Ric, feeling the love_.

"No, I need you to stay with Elena. Keep an eye on her; I don't want her knowing about this," Stefan said. I scoffed again.

"You mean keeping secrets?" I asked sarcastically. "Remember, keeping secrets can make people do dramatic things. Like, I don't know, leave because they're pissed, go off with their bitchy ancestor and get killed, turned into a vampire? Ring any bells?" Stefan looked away from my gaze.

And Ric ignored me, like always. _Ignore Courtney because Elena's needs come first. Don't worry guys, I'll be fine without any concern. I can say, my sister's ex-boyfriend and my sister's crush are the only people who have inquired how I was doing, so fuck all of you. _"Okay, I'll stay with her; make sure she doesn't leave my sight."

"Alright," Stefan concluded. "If anyone wants to pussy out, I'll understand." No one, including me, raised their hands or spoke up about the plan. They were really going through with this.

Damon agreed, "Yeah, cold feet speak now. I don't want this going wrong because they decided that they just wanted to go to the masquerade to dance. Caroline," he accused.

"I won't," Caroline said quickly. "She killed. I want the bitch dead just as much as you. As long as no werewolves are free and want to stretch their legs."

"Don't worry, I took care of Mason." Damon smiled.

"Bastard," I mumbled, still angry about Mason's death. Mason still didn't deserve what happened to him and I wasn't sure why I was still hung up on it. Katherine was going to kill him anyway.

"As long as Tyler doesn't kill anyone—he won't turn," Jeremy commented. Bonnie, Caroline and Jeremy all looked a little worried about the whole plan. Ugh, firs timers, always have those worried looks about killing people who deserve it. I didn't want Katherine dead, but she sure did have it coming with all the people she screwed over, Mason included.

"Bonnie? You with us," Stefan asked. I noticed that she was holding the moonstone. It wasn't Damon I had to distract, it was Bonnie. Damn, that would be a helluva lot harder because she was good with the whole "distraction" thing. Bonnie would get suspicious and then tell Stefan and then he'd get all question-y and I'd be on the outs. There were so many things that could go wrong with the _Big Plan, _but I had to at least try.

"But no one gets hurt," Bonnie agreed.

"Except Katherine," Damon objected. _And the poor soul that gets linked to her. _"Tonight, Katherine gets a stake through her heart." Damon said it all dramatic and if our life was a TV show, there would be a cut scene, but me being me, I couldn't deal with the cliché.

"I thought we agreed I'd be pulling out her heart," I pointed out.

"Seriously?" Caroline demanded. "It was all dramatic and you had to ruin it."

"What can I say? We have to stay _original._" Damon shook his head and laughed. "What are you wearing to the masquerade anyway, Caroline?"

"You'll see," Caroline whispered, mysteriously. I tried to imitate Damon's eye thing, it probably looked like one eye was twitching and the other winking at the same time.

"Okay, what about you, Bonnie? What's your dress going to be?"

"I'll be…beautiful," Bonnie lied. I could tell by the way her voice faltered. Bonnie was always insecure and she hated admitting it, like any other girl. But I knew her since I was a child, I could tell when she was lying.

"What about you? Where's your dress?" Damon inquired, annoying me more than he would ever know. "You said I interrupted you when I called."

"I was looking at it in my room and you just happened to stop me from trying it on," I made up. Stefan looked puzzled.

"Then why didn't you come down to see Jenna?" Jeremy asked, calling me out. I wanted to yell at Jeremy for blowing my cover that I wasn't at home at the time, but I wasn't about to yell at my little brother. He didn't know I was being a two-timing bitch. He was just curious and suspicious.

"Yeah, and it sounded like you were with someone. So, what's up?" Damon questioned, him too looking suspicious. I was about to lose it, but I had to keep my cover or some shit would go down with Katherine.

"Okay, I was at a friend's house," I lied, trying to look troubled. "Her name is Lucy, she's kind of my…"

"Your what?"

"Yeah, Courtney, what?" Stefan repeated. I stared at him and he just shrugged.

Caroline coaxed, "You can tell us."

They were lucky I was dedicated to Katherine because if I wasn't, I'd speed out of there. "What?" Jeremy asked too.

I pretended to crack. "My personal blood bag!" Everyone froze for a second; their breaths literally got caught up in their throats. I acted like I was ashamed and played with my fingers and looked down at my feet. I heard someone move to put their hands on my shoulders and tilt my head up to their face. I looked up to see icy blue eyes of Damon Salvatore.

"It's okay," Damon told me. I let a tear slip out and he hugged me. Damon let go soon after and backed up to his place on the couch. I realized that I was almost in the middle of the circle. _How the hell did that happen?_

"You told me you were okay," Stefan tried.

I snapped back, wiping away a fake, forced tea, "Yeah, well I lied to—" The ringing sound of my phone cut me off. I politely smiled at all of them and pulled out my phone out of my back pocket, but the smile went to shit when I saw who was calling.

_Him calling. _Niklaus fucking Mikaelson.

"_Него отново?" Him again?_

"Who's that?" Damon inquired.

"What do you want?" I demanded, answering the phone.

"Darling," a British voice pleaded, "I was wrong. I'm so sorry for lying to you. Courtney, please come back." Damon, Stefan and Caroline's faces all looked confused and worried about me. I almost wanted to thank them for being so thoughtful and caring about me but I also wanted to tell them to bugger off.

"You hurt me and betray me," I snapped into the phone, not caring about the people (one in particular: Stefan) standing in front of me. "You lied straight to my face and I'm glad that I left your sorry ass in Pennsylvania."

"Courtney, please—"

"Screw you." I hung up on Klaus and put my hands on my head. I was stressed about everything. I had realized Klaus was calling me ever since I left and I didn't even make an effort to change my number (I already gave it to everyone I knew) so that meant Klaus could still call me. Then there was the whole Katherine Vs. Elena situation and I had picked both sides for the sacrifice, but I really just wanted Klaus to get his hybrid crap and love me without any interruptions and then there was the problem of being a witch. I had no idea what that dream meant or what Cassie meant but it was really scaring me.

"Who was that?" Stefan inquired, breaking the silence that fell over us.

I laughed humourously at my situation. I was screwed, no matter whose side I was on; Klaus's, Elena's or Katherine's. I was letting down someone, so if I just stuck to the plan I was going on, then I'd get everyone's benefits, but it was truly driving me insane to know that I was some kind of freak that could turn back into a human when she was already dead. "No one, Stefan."

"You sounded pretty fucking mad so don't tell me it was no one," Stefan snapped, sounding like I had never heard him sound before. I felt a breeze and suddenly, I didn't have my phone in my hand, it was in Damon's.

"Caller ID says 'Him' so that's shady." Damon tossed my phone back to me. I caught it with a scowl. "Who the hell is he?"

"Damon! This is much bigger than you know, so if you could just shut the fuck up, that'd be the best thing next to killing Katherine," I mumbled, rubbing my forehead. This was actually giving me a headache. _Are vampires supposed to get fucking human headaches?_

"What did he do to hurt you?" Stefan demanded. I then blew up on him.

"Stefan, you're my friend! You care, but you just need to learn when to fuck off!" Stefan didn't look convinced about who I was talking about and I sighed.

"If you won't tell us who, tell me what language you were speaking?" Bonnie requested, crossing her arms.

I gave up. "You know what, I don't need this shit. I'm going to see Lucy. I'll see you all at the Masquerade." I waved to them from behind, but Stefan used his superpower to appear right in my pathway to the door that I so desperately wanted to get. Being the bitches they were, Bonnie, Caroline, Jeremy, Ric and Damon all gathered around so they could have front row seats to see the freak show that was my life.

"Who was that?" Stefan asked calmly, landing his hands on my shoulders. How many times had my shoulders been touched that day? Too many fucking times…

"You really want to know who that was?" Stefan nodded. "That was my ex. He screwed me over in ways you cannot imagine. So, I happen to be mad at him. Stefan, if you could be so kind as to moving out of my goddamn way, that'd be better than ripping the life out of Katherine's chest." They all just sighed at me.

"How did he screw you over?"

"He lied to me, Stefan, that's as deep as I'm going to get," I barked. Stefan nodded slowly and looked me in the eyes to make sure I was okay. I sent him a forced smile and stepped around Stefan to get to the door. Once I made sure none of them followed me, I ran to Katherine's place. I found Katherine looking at dresses with Lucy. "Whattup, witch?" I greeted, still a bit angry. "I used you as cover, hope you don't mind."

"What happened? Did someone tell you you didn't look as pretty today?" Katherine mocked, still staring at herself in the mirror. She looked exactly like my sister, with her straight hair but there was something off about her that only I could probably tell. Katherine didn't have that twin essence I could feel when I was with Elena. Maybe I was just imagining it, but it was definitely there for me.

"Remember Katherine, doppelganger, same face. A certain someone called in the middle of everything and blew my cover," I explained, sitting on the bed but careful not to crush any of the new dresses put there. "Then my little brother Curious George had to ruin my cover about his morning. They found out I was working with you."

"Seriously?" Katherine turned around for this.

"No, my secret is safe," I admitted. She sighed and turned back to look at herself.

"Oh, good. Don't scare me like that," she scolded. "Now, what did they talk about?"

"They want to kill you," I stated bluntly. Katherine stopped smiling and turned back to look at me. "I offered to be the one to pull you heart right out of your chest."

"Courtney…" Katherine warned.

"Don't worry," I chirped, jumping up and grabbing a dress, "That won't happen when you tell them who you're linking yourself to someone else." Katherine moved out of the way to let me admire myself. I held the dress up to my body and tilted my head. I actually looked like I would look hot. I never had as many curves as Elena did, really, and I always had the little added baby fat, but since the days with Katherine (before vampirism), I had lost a little weight, not that I needed to. I was officially as skinny as Elena, but my stomach was toned. All in all, I was fucking sexy. "Who are you linking yourself to?"

"You."

I turned to look at Katherine smiling. "What?"

"They won't hurt me, definitely if they know you could die _again_ with me," Katherine explained.

"Damon and Stefan fucking hate you. You broke Damon's heart and you're breaking Stefan and Elena up, which is a dick move by the way, so they won't care if they lose me."

"Why do you underestimate importance?" Katherine asked, genuinely sounding annoyed at my insecurity.

I snapped, "Because, Elena will always come first on their list. I'll always come second. It's that simple."

"Ugh," Katherine groaned. "I can never understand why they liked her better over you. I mean, you're attractive, funny and amazing. I'm actually more proud that you're my doppelganger more than her. She's…just ugh." I smiled at her, even though she was a universal bitch.

"Hey, that is my sister you're talking about," I warned playfully. "Katherine?"

"Huh?"

"After we get everything we need, break the curse, you set free and all my friends brought back to life, promise me you'll leave them alone?"

"What?" Katherine demanded.

"Damon hates you, he really does. He's gotten over you and so has Stefan," I said, explaining more. "Stefan loves Elena and since you hurt him hurting her, he'll never forgive you. I mean, you are amazing, but Stefan realized you are nothing compared to my dull sister."

"Don't you know?" Katherine asked, still sounding chipper.

"What?"

"Justin Bieber said it best, no matter how much I hate him. Never say never."

"You literally just said 'never' twice."

"Never say never."

* * *

><p>"Please, Klaus, I am trying to go somewhere and you're not helping me," I said to him on the phone again, picking up the earrings Katherine left for me on the table. "I'll call you back or something, but I…I just can't. Nevermind, forget what I said about calling you back."<p>

"Courtney—"

"Niklaus Mikaelson, I have to go!" I hung up on him before he could say anything to me. He was calling me non-stop which caused me to be late when Damon called me about being at the masquerade. I was going to have to run to the whole thing, without my shoes on. I knew I would heal, but I still didn't want to get any blood in my beautiful shoes.

Once I inspected myself in the mirror, I ran. I arrived in the forest right outside so I could let myself heal. After I wiped the blood on the sidewalk, I slipped the shoes on and walked calmly to the door. I spotted Damon and Stefan standing at front talking. I headed over and said, "How are my boys?"

"Have you seen her?" Damon demanded, not even looking at me.

"Wow, even Katherine, the ex-girlfriend who broke your heart, beat me on the list," I commented, sounding totally happy. "That's just amazing."

"Oh, sorry." Damon's eyes flickered down at me. "You look amazing." When he realized I really did look amazing, Damon stared at me with adoring eyes just like Stefan was all along. I tried not to smile too big and indicate that I was officially in _Cocky Land._

"You really do look amazing," Stefan confirmed, wolf-whistling after.

"Stefan," I scolded, hitting him on the chest softly, "Don't say that. We wouldn't want anyone getting ideas." I looked at Damon; he shrugged.

"Alright, Gilbert, you clean up…well," Damon barely complimented. I scoffed at him and started walking past them. I heard Stefan scoff at him too and look for Katherine again. Just to get revenge, I called out, "Stefan, could you wear those pants more often?" They both turned back to look at me smirking. "Your ass looks amazing in it. And Damon, you look…not as stupid." Damon gave me a sarcastic smile and I returned it. Once I walked in, I found Bonnie and who I guessed was Jeremy walking up the stairs suspiciously. I guess they found a room.

I didn't tell Katherine about the whole trapping spell because I wanted it to be a surprise for her. The bitch deserved everything she was getting, I just made sure that it wasn't going to go so far that Katherine was going to die.

I followed Bonnie and Jeremy up quietly and waited for the right time to jump in. I listened to their conversation about Bonnie in secret, standing outside the door. Many people gave me looks and I explained I thought my boyfriend was cheating on me and then they congratulated me back. I still didn't plan on going to back to school. It disgusted me (not in a bad way) that I was using my _brother _as my fake _boyfriend, _but I had to do what I had to do. I listened to Bonnie and Jeremy set up the room even more, but then ditched when I heard them heading towards the door. I stepped in the room and looked around for the moonstone, but there was nothing I could find. They hid it well. I tried to walk out the room, but there was some invisible force that didn't let me get out. Dammit, I was trapped. Once a vampire walked in, they couldn't get out. I had nothing to do for a while, so I just brought out my phone and played games on the loveseat.

It was like I fell asleep. I saw Stefan walking around the Lockwood property, probably searching for Katherine, when he spotted her walking down the steps. Stefan looked a bit surprised that she would just strut around like that when she knew that Elena could show up any minute. Suddenly, Katherine was behind him. "Dance with me," she requested, taking a strawberry from the tray she was offered.

"No," Stefan denied bluntly.

"Then tell me who I should kill," she retorted, taking a bite out of her strawberry. "Him? She looks delicious." She was staring at a couple dancing behind Stefan. He was annoyed at Katherine, but also use to her games. It was weird how I could tell all that by his facial expression.

Stefan put his arm out for Katherine and she dropped her strawberry leaf on the ground to take his arms and followed him out onto the dance floor. Stefan was annoyed, but Katherine was ready. She explained to me how she was making the first move on him to make him see that he still loved her. I knew that was a load of bull, that he'd never love her the way he loved Elena, but she insisted.

Katherine chuckled as they danced. "It's a beautiful night." At that, Stefan chuckled too but without any enthusiasm. He thought that she was playing with him. He knew that she loved him, but he also knew Katherine would do anything to get what she wanted: the moonstone. She thought she could just play the 'old feelings' card causing him to just fall to his knees at her will and hand over the moonstone. She underestimated Stefan.

"Why the charade?"

Katherine ignored his question. "How's Jenna? I didn't expect her to survive her little…accident. Lucky girl, right? Clumsy, though," Katherine commented. "How does one stab themselves? Huh?"

"Katherine?" Stefan asked, this time ignoring her.

"Hmm?"

"I don't want anyone to get hurt tonight," he lied.

"Okay, then give me the moonstone and nobody will," Katherine bargained. She knew if he agreed, it'd be too good to be true, but that's what Katherine was all about. Playing bluffs to win the game.

"You see, I don't have the moonstone on me, so you and I will have to go fetch it together."

"I have a better plan," Katherine interrupted. "You go get the moonstone, bring it to me and then we can go off together anyway." Stefan laughed again.

"My way…or you don't get it," Stefan told her straight.

I woke up from my daze. I remembered I was playing Temple Run (I died by that time) and I was stuck in the room. I was confused. _What the hell was that? It's kind of like my dreams, but I have a feeling that it is happening right now._ I continued to play the games until I heard the door open. I saw Stefan and Damon walk in, Stefan looking troubled.

I stood up. "Hey, I think I just saw—"

"Not now," Stefan interrupted. _Of course, what's wrong with Elena now? _"Katherine just killed someone and I can't even deal with this."

"Now, now, it's just collateral damage," Damon said, closing the door. "Don't back out on me now." Stefan was still pacing. Damon walked up to Stefan, stopping him. "No, you said you wouldn't hesitate, Stefan. This woman ruined our lives, she destroyed us, as brothers."

"Nope, you did that yourself," I mumbled. They both ignored me, but I was use to it.

"Tonight," Damon continued, putting his hands on Stefan's shoulders. "It all ends. You got my back, I got yours. Alright?"

Stefan nodded and agreed, "Alright."

"Now that we got the waterworks out of the way, why can I not get out?" I asked. "I thought Bonnie was only trapping Katherine?"

"Nope, all vampires," Damon confirmed. "Okay, places everyone. It's showtime." I rolled my eyes at Damon and walked into the bathroom with Stefan. Damon went somewhere else, but I honestly didn't care because I was with Stefan. Ever since the dream about him and me, I wasn't really thinking of Stefan the same. I had to tell him because honestly, I felt attracted to him and I couldn't have that. Elena was my sister. I wasn't going to be like that.

"Stefan, there's something I need to tell you," I admitted. There were three things I could tell him: about Klaus, about the dream or about the vision I had of them. There was only one that it thought was important.

"You wanna tell me who you were talking to?"

"I wasn't lying. That is my ex-boyfriend," I told him truthfully because it was technically the truth. He just didn't need to know _who _my ex was. "But, I just saw you and Katherine dancing together. You were talking about Jenna and the moonstone and I have a feeling that just happened because you were both wearing masks."

Stefan looked confused and fascinated at the same time. "And you said you had a dream that came true?"

"Yes," I confirmed.

"Courtney, I don't know how but you literally saw what happened between Katherine and I," Stefan told me. "And you don't know what's happening?"

"Stefan, no, I don't," I said. "And honestly, I'm scared. There's just so much stuff Stefan, so much I want to tell you, but I'm afraid of…"

"Of what, Courtney?"

I took a breath and played the part right. "What happened in Pennsylvania with Katherine was horrible. She taught me how to kill and how to compel and use people to my own personal gain. She told me about you, Stefan."

Genuinely, Stefan looked confused. It was kind of cute how he did, but I wasn't going to stop. Katherine _and _Elena were my family. "What about me?"

"How you were blood crazed," I admitted, looking down at my feet. I could _hear _Stefan's expression change from confusion to realization. "I'm not scared of you, but I'm scared of becoming like you. I don't want to hurt people, Stefan." Ignoring his problems, Stefan wrapped his arms around me and gently forced my face into his shoulder. I mumbled against his clothes, "I don't want to hurt people. Not more than I already have. Help me…"

"You saw what I did when I got human blood," Stefan recalled, making me think back to the night I found out. "I can't help you with humans, but with animals, I can." I was actually getting a steady diet that Katherine brought in to the apartment and a few people I compelled on the way. My vampire life wasn't actually that bad. But to play it off, I had to go with it.

"Thank you," I lied.

"Anything for you, Courtney." That should have set me off for something that was going on between us, but it didn't. I ignored how wrong this situation was and enjoyed his arms around me. I was basically betraying Elena like how she betrayed me. "Katherine will be here any minute, we should probably be quiet."

I untangled myself from his arms. "Yeah," I agreed. "We should probably just wait quietly." So we waited…quietly until we heard Caroline admit to Katherine that she was proud of herself for tricking Katherine. I knew Caroline was capable of many things, but lying wasn't her strong-suit.

"Stefan?" Katherine called.

Stefan stepped out the bathroom to greet Katherine. I followed right behind him. "Hello, Katherine."

"Goodbye, Katherine." Caroline waved to Katherine before walking away down the stairs. I stepped out behind Stefan and faced Katherine on my own. She really did look amazing in that dress. Katherine looked actually surprised.

"Look, there's the old woman," I pointed out. "Are those wrinkles, Katherine Pierce? I think you're losing your touch." Katherine smiled at me and then turned to Stefan.

"You don't really think you can kill me with that little thing, do you?" Katherine inquired. I waited for her to say something about us being linking, but nothing came out of her mouth. Stefan didn't say anything at first.

"No, but he can." I looked at Damon coming out of the closet with the wooden stake launcher and lodged a stake right into her back. I waited for the pain to come to me, but I felt nothing in my back. Looks like she decided to use an innocent bystander after all. Then I heard screams of someone whose screams I knew very well. I had to shake it off because Katherine was screaming too. I was only hearing hers, but I had a feeling…

Stefan ran to stick the stake that was in his hand into Katherine's arm. She seemed calm and not troubled, although she was in pain. The screams almost doubled in my head and I turned to look out the window. When I saw nothing, I returned to look at Katherine in pain. It didn't really trouble me that she was hurting, I was only wondering who was hurting _with _her. Stefan pulled out the stake in her arm and went to stab her in the heart, but Katherine was too fast and shoved him to the ground. Damon tried to do the same thing with the stake in her back, but she was too quick for him too. I was about to laugh at these losers and cheer on Katherine when she was about to kill Damon. I rushed over to her to stop her and she jumped back, making _me _land on my back. I was a vampire, but that really hurt to be honest. Damon ran over to stab Katherine in the heart (which was not was I intended) when Jeremy called out, "Stop! Everything you're doing to Katherine is hurting Elena."

With this news, I back her against the wall and held her by her neck in under a second. I was on Katherine's side, but if she threatened Elena in any way before the sacrifice and thought I'd be okay with it, she had another thing coming. "You bitch!" I growled, close to her face. "You linked yourself to my sister?" Katherine pushed me off, but not hard enough to make me fall to the ground.

Katherine replied in Bulgarian, "_Ти не ми каза за магията Бони направи_." _You didn't tell me about Bonnie's spell._

_"Можете заплаши Elena." You threatened Elena._

_Katherine asked with her attitude, "Бихте ли по-скоро, че си ти?" Would you rather it was you?_

I yelled back, _"да!" Yes!_

"What are you saying?" Damon requested.

"We're talking in Bulgarian. She taught me some while we were away," I told them, staring at Katherine accusingly. She looked back at me with a pleading look, but suddenly stopped when she realized that Damon was analyzing her look.

"You think you two are the only ones with a witch on your side? Wrong." Katherine smirked at the both of them. "Looks like my witch is better than your witch." Katherine took the stake from Damon's hand and sat down on the couch.

"Jeremy, go check to see if Elena's okay," Stefan instructed.

"Let's always make sure poor Elena's okay," Katherine mocked, just like me. I still was mad at her. "What about Courtney and I?" Damon looked back at me with caring eyes, but suddenly turned his head when he heard skin breaking. Katherine was cutting herself so Elena could feel pain.

"Katherine, stop it, or God so help me, I will kill you and just bring back Elena," I warned, getting up from my seat on the couch. She didn't stop on my words so I had to smack it out of her hands. "Katherine, you are treading on thin ice here." But Katherine just _zoomed _away and got another stake from the floor and put it to her gut.

"This is really going to hurt," she commented. I was about to tell her to go ahead, but then Damon stopped her.

"Wait!" he called out.

"Good, alright. We're on the same page. So, about the moonstone?"

"You are a vindictive, little bitch!" I went to lunge at Katherine but Damon held me back with his 100 years he had on me. Katherine was seriously going to get it when I got her alone, but then, I couldn't and I knew I couldn't. She was linked to Elena. Killing Katherine for real meant killing Elena. She was supposed to link it to me, but of course, Katherine had to do her own little shit and ruin everything. Especially our relationship.

"Look at us, the three of us together just like the old times," Katherine commented.

"Plus a crazy bitch who isn't afraid to shove a stake through another crazy bitch's heart," I added on snarkily. Stefan looked at me with a warning look and I raised my hands up in the air, defenseless. Damon walked to the entrance and tried to walk past the invisible barrier Bonnie had put up, but of course, he couldn't. I realized the doors were open. _How long have they been like that? We must have been smart enough not to keep them open, right?_

"The brother who loved me too much and the other who didn't love me enough."

"And the evil slut vampire who only loved herself," Damon commented too. I smiled at my best friend.

"What happened to you, Damon?" Katherine asked. "You use to be so sweet and polite."

"Oh, that Damon died a long time ago," he replied.

"Good, he was a bore."

"Why don't you two stop antagonizing each other?"

"Where's the moonstone?" Katherine requested. I felt a little dizzy for a second. It was really nothing big, but I felt as though my vision went out a little. I leant up against the wall for support as it got worse.

"Why do you need it?" Stefan shot back. It got hazier and hazier as they kept talking. Katherine didn't reply with the answer Stefan's question, but had a question of her own.

"Does Elena enjoy having the both of you worship you at her altar?"

I dropped. Damon was there to catch me, but I had something to say to Katherine anyway, "Desperate, Katherine? Really?" Damon set me down on the opposite couch. She stared at me like she knew what was coming but she couldn't say anything in front of the Salvatores so she continued on with her stupid lecture.

"Really, Stefan? It doesn't bother you that Damon's in love with your girlfriend?" she shamelessly inquired. Stefan didn't react the way I thought he'd react. He acted calm, like I thought but he didn't tell her that she was wrong. In fact, by the look on his face, I could tell he agreed with her.

"Stop it."

"Or what?" she joked. "You'll kill me?"

"Come on, Stefan. Everything that I feel, Elena feels, so I know you won't be hurting me anytime." Katherine stood up from her spot and walked around. Stefan and Damon took a few seconds to look at each other and Katherine took these few for granted.

'You okay?' she mouthed to me, looking concerned. I nodded holding my head. 'It's happening again.'

'What?' I asked.

'That night.'

I knew those exact words. She was talking about the night I turned back into a human. This wasn't the right time. I was trying to protect my family from my other socio family. Turning back into a human couldn't come at a worse time and that meant, once I was a vampire again, that I would have to be invited into my house _again._

"You know what? Kiss me, Damon," Katherine demanded, turning back to the boys. Damon looked annoyed and confused at what she was saying. "She'll feel that too." I chuckled quietly, which made me feel worse and I actually wished I was asleep again. It couldn't have been a more…peaceful transformation.

"Stefan, I feel—"

"Hold on, Courtney," Stefan interrupted. _This bitch…_ "The whole Mason thing has me a bit confused. "Why a werewolf? The moonstone can break the curse so all werewolves can destroy vampires. So what's in it for you?"

"Oh, and sorry about your pet wolf, you should have kept him on a tighter leash," Damon apologized. "I'll have to remember that for next time, but he's not the only wolf in town."

"You mean Tyler," I piped in, trying to sound surprised, but the whole head hurting thing was throwing me off, "Yeah, he's not killing anyone, right?" I stared at Katherine with my look and she didn't reply.

_Bitch didn't call of Matt, did she? How the hell did I know she wouldn't?_

"Okay, now that Chatter box has gone silent," I said, "Stefan, I really need to talk to you." Stefan stopped staring down Katherine and looked at me sitting on the loveseat, where I was sweating. Damon looked over at me with worried eyes too. Before I knew it, Stefan was kneeling before me, his hand on my thigh.

"What's happening?"

"The thing," I said vaguely. "The thing that makes me back into a human."

"Shit," Stefan cursed under his breath.

"Dammit, where's that witch?" Damon had poured himself a drink and was standing at the doorway waiting for either Bonnie or Lucy. I was starting to lose a grip on my reality and my vision and hearing. I could hear Katherine saying something about playing and Stefan bargaining the moonstone, but then it all went black.

* * *

><p>I woke up with my head on a pillow, listening to someone choke. I opened my eyes to see Lucy, Damon and Stefan standing above Katherine's body on the floor. I was confused on what happened, but to be honest, I was worried. Obviously, Lucy did something to Katherine and she knew about me working with her. If Lucy even slipped a hint, I'd be out. "Oh, shit… What happened?" I asked. Stefan was by my side in a second, making sure I was okay. "I'm fine," I assured him.<p>

"This witch was badass," Damon informed me. "She gave Katherine the moonstone, but she put a spell on it and Katherine's now on the ground." I was lucky and unlucky. Lucky because Katherine couldn't threaten Elena's safety unless she was awake, which she obviously wasn't, but unlucky because we still didn't have the moonstone.

"Wait, so the spell is lifted in the room?" I asked.

"Yes," Lucy confirmed personally.

"Thank god." I was by Elena's side in a heartbeat. I knew there were people around, but Elena was my sister and I'd expose myself for her any day. I was always complaining about how everyone put her first, but I realized that was because they loved her so much. I had to put her first too. "'Lena, are you okay?"

"Oh, my God, you're okay," Elena breathed, pulling me into a hug.

"Yeah, I'm fine, how about you?"

"I'm good, but I have to go," Elena told me, pulling away. She was about leave when I just got her back. "I'm sorry." Elena left me before I could say anything else to her. I stared at her walking away towards wherever the hell she was going and I let a tear slip out. Everything was kind of falling apart.

I got up from my spot and I started walking. I didn't know where, but I started walking. And I didn't stop until I saw a van. I was a vampire, but then again, I was turning back into a human and the van was slowing down near me. There was something wrong.

And then he knocked me out.

**There's another part. Your welcome!**

**katherineismikaelson**


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

"Courtney, get up! Please, Courtney, listen to me and get up," some snapped in my ear. I felt myself being shaken. "Get the hell up before he comes back." I opened my eyes to see different surroundings. It looked a bit run down and unfinished with a few pieces of random furniture and candles as the only light. I looked up to Elena and saw her worried face. _What is going on? _Then I remembered the man who knocked me out. _They took Elena too? Sadistic, sick bitches…both twins? Some bull shit._ "Courtney, thank god you're awake." Elena pulled me up into a sitting position and hugged me. I put one arm around her to hug her back, but I was off somewhere else in my mind while Elena was worrying about me. _Why do they want us here?_

"Elena, where are we?" She looked away and tried to think herself.

"A man and a woman were here," Elena tried to explain. "The man didn't say anything, he just wanted to take a sip from me, but the woman, she said I looked just like Katherine. Then she turned to you and said the same thing. I asked her what she wanted and she slapped me."

"She did what now?" The limit of the shit I would take was high, but the limit on the shit I'd let Elena take? Nuh uh, someone was going to get a heart ripped out. But then that reminded me that I couldn't hear Elena's heartbeat since she was so close, or smell her blood. _Well, shit… _This _is the worst time to be human again._

"It's okay, I handled it," Elena informed me. I still wasn't convinced. "But then they left to talk in the other room. Can you use your vampire hearing?"

"Elena, remember when I told you that one time how I turned back into a human when I was a vampire?" Realization dawned on her face. I nodded and she sighed. "Elena, I promise, we're going to get out, but you can't use that little attitude of yours."

"My attitude? Courtney, you use sarcasm for everything," Elena argued.

"What can I say? I don't really like people and sarcasm is my only defense." Elena gave me her look. "Okay, anyway, we need to find a way out of here. So just stay quiet and follow my lead." I heard their voices not far from here. "Quiet."

"Did you call him?"

"No, I called one of his contacts," the woman replied to the man. "You know how this whole thing works."

"Did you or did you not get the message to Elijah?" the man demanded. At those words I knew what was going on. Elijah was on the outs with Klaus, but not many people knew that, so they were trying to turn us in, since we were the doppelgangers. I had a feeling that they were the same as Katherine; running from someone so they would make a deal and then they'd be free. But I had another feeling that it wasn't going to fly like that.

"They say he got it," the woman replied. Elena and I got up from the couch as quiet as we could and followed the voices. I made sure Elena was behind me before checking to see the two vampires. The two of them had already walked from the hallway, so Elena moved forward without me. I had to catch up quietly and make sure she was behind me again. _She's the Jeremy to my Elena right now._

"And what?"

"That's it Trevor, he either got it or he didn't."

"Look, it's not too late, we can leave them here," the man said, sounding panicked. _Pussy… _"We don't have to go through with this." I only just realized that they sounded like Niklaus, with their British accents. I guess I watched way too much _Harry Potter _and I was now just use to the other accent.

The woman replied, "I'm tired of running."

"Yeah? Well running keeps us from dying." _Hehe, touché, dude._

"Elijah's old school, if he excepts our deal, then we're free," the woman responded calmly. Elena and I could finally see their faces. I studied the lady's first. She was beautiful with short hair curled back to look like it was windblown. To be honest, she reminded me more of a pixie, not a vampire. Her friend, _Trevor, _had the same kind of hair style as hers, but it wasn't as curled. There was a little stubble on his face, but other than that, he looked pretty attractive. It was really weird, how were all vampire so gorgeous?

Elena just had to step farther to get away and the floor creaked under her. "You!" the woman snapped, walking towards her. I stepped in front of her to make sure Vampire Pixie wouldn't do anything to hurt her. Vampire Pixie smiled at me, but her tone didn't soften. "There's nothing for miles around here, so if you two think you're getting out of this house, you're tragically wrong, understand?" Elena nodded afraid, but I just crossed my arms. It was obvious that she couldn't kill us or she'd be in even more trouble and abusing the doppelgangers wouldn't be the best move, so I didn't care. I was going to have all the attitude in the world towards this annoying woman.

"Who's Elijah?" Elena asked.

Vampire Pixie looked troubled. "He's your worst nightmare." I scoffed at her. Elijah was a baby chick compared to my badass ex-boyfriend Niklaus Mikaelson. Klaus was what you told your children at night to scare them into eating their vegetables. Elijah was what your children as a joke and him wearing a suit everyday was the punch line.

I followed Elena back to the couch where we sat in silence. "Elena, there's something I need to tell you."

"Yeah?"

I felt as though I should tell her because keeping secrets wasn't my favorite thing to do in the world and Elena did kind of deserve to know. She lied to me and kept secrets, but I had a much bigger lie than her. _At least I don't compel her…_ "I didn't tell you this before, but…I drew a picture of Stefan."

Elena looked confused. "So?"

"But I wrote a different name at the top; Silas. I did some research and he was a real guy. A vampire actually," I explained. I was going to say more, but Elena shushed me. Vampire Pixie was back in the room.

"Why are we here?" Elena demanded firmly. I wanted to congratulate my sister on sounding not totally stupid when she asked the question. Elena got up from the couch and walked closer to Vampire Pixie and I had to follow her to make sure she didn't do anything stupid. Pixie was looking at something on a desk with a lamp.

Vampire Pixie replied, "You keep asking me questions like I'm going to answer them." She left her spot by the books on the desk and picked up a piece of wood to put over the window where sunlight was spilling through. _Pixie doesn't have a daylight ring or necklace, interesting… _There was a plan brewing in my mind, but I had to wait for the right time to execute the idea.

"Why won't you?"

"There's another one," Vampire Pixie commented.

"You got us," Elena admitted. "We can't go anywhere, so the least you could do is tell us what you want with us."

"I personally want nothing, I'm just the delivery service," she responded. Once she was done putting up the wooden covers, Vampire Pixie then walked over to _another _table filled with _more _books and started sorting them.

"Delivery to who? Elijah?" Elena asked. _No shit, Sherlock…_

"Two points to the eavesdropper," Rose awarded sarcastically. I was starting to like her, really. If she used sarcasm when answering questions, she was my kind of girl. Vampire Pixie didn't turn back to look at us; she only answered questions Elena had shooting out of her mouth every five seconds.

"Who is he? Is he a vampire?" _No Elena, she's going to give us over to a pimp human who'll sell us off to their lonely dog. No shit, he's a vampire._

"He's one of _the _vampires, an Original."

"What do you mean 'an Original'?" Elena asked. I forgot to tell her about the whole Original family and how Katherine was running from them and how my ex-boyfriend was the most feared one. Yeah, when we had our little reunion, that might have slipped my mind.

"Really? Again with the questions? Haven't the Salvatores taught you about vampire history?" Vampire Pixie finally decided to turn around. "What about, other sister?" She was talking about me. "Do you know anything?"

I decided to avoid the question and ask answer hers with one of my own. "You know Stefan and Damon?"

"I know of them," Rose informed me, turning around. "A hundred years back, one of my friends tried to set me up with Stefan. I'm personally more of a 'bad boy' type, myself." I laughed at Vampire Pixie. If the situation was different, I had a feeling we'd be good friends.

"Who are the Originals?" Elena pressed.

"Courtney, care to tell your dear, annoying sister?"

"Nope, you can tell her," I denied, with a smile. Vampire Pixie turned around again to face us, but with an irritated look on her face. I wanted to laugh at her irritation and tell her I felt the same way about her keeping us here, but she cut me off.

"Trevor and I have been running for over 400 years. And we're tired. We're negotiating you for our freedom."

"Gee, thanks," I mumbled sarcastically. "Now I know where our relationship stands."

"Why us?"

"Because you're the Petrova doppelgangers," Vampire Pixie answered simply. "You two are the key to breaking the curse." I wanted to yell at Vampire Pixie to shut up, but that meant blowing my cover and we just couldn't have that rubbish, could we?

"Curse?" I asked, playing along with my cluelessness. "The sun and the moon curse?"

"So, you do know your history."

"What do you mean I'm the key?" Elena questioned. I rolled my eyes; of course she had to make it about her…even though it was about her because I was going back to vampirism the second Katherine broke me out. Then again, Katherine was knocked out with Stefan and Damon caring for her, so maybe vampirism had to wait. "The moonstone is what breaks the curse."

"No," Vampire Pixie denied bluntly. "The moonstone is what _binds _the curse. Sacrifice is what breaks it."

"Sacrifice?"

Vampire Pixie informed her, "The blood of the doppelganger. You're the doppelganger. Which means, they key to breaking the curse means one of you two has to die." Elena looked confused and scared while I tried to imitate her feelings on my face, but I was failing miserably. Vampire Pixie realized I knew something and gave me a look that screamed, "What are you hiding?" I didn't say anything, I just walked back to the couch.

Of course I didn't have my phone on me, but there was something that appeared in my hand. While Elena was being confused with Vampire Pixie, I was reading the note that mysteriously appeared in my hand.

_Stefan and Damon are coming for you soon._

_-B_

I suddenly heard 'Rose and I' and then I realized who the two were. They were the two Katherine talked about. Trevor fell in love with Katherine and Rose got caught up in it. It made sense because they were on the run for helping Katherine and that explained why they had to give us up for their freedom. Funny how everything played out like that. I got up from the couch and headed back into the room they were in. I leaned at the doorway and watched it all go down.

"What did you do?" Elena asked.

"He made the same mistake countless others had made," Rose answered for him. "He trusted Katerina Petrova."

"Katherine?"

"The one and only—first Petrova doppelganger."

"I help Katherine escape her fate." I already heard the story so I tuned out and started thinking of my own thing. Stefan and Damon were coming soon, so that meant I didn't have to spend another minute in that dull house that made me feel depress or listen to Trevor moan about how in love he was with Katherine. I also wondered about Bonnie's growing powers. It must have been a complicated spell to get that to me from miles away. I was proud that Bonnie was my best friend for doing such a difficult spell, but I only hoped that she was okay. Sabine, a very powerful witch, did a spell and her nose bled. Bonnie did a powerful spell and she just started. Her nose probably bled and she probably passed out. Hopefully she only fainted. I couldn't live with myself if I knew that Bonnie died trying to protect Elena and I. Plus she probably had to do the tracking spell because Stefan and Damon wouldn't have any idea where to find us.

Elena walked back to me and I told her to follow me to the couch with only my hand movements. We both quietly walked back and I showed her the note Bonnie sent. Elena smiled at me once she finished reading the note. I smiled back and hugged her. Something was finally going right for us.

Rose started picking up books around us and put them in a bag like she was packing for something. I was going to say something but then I realized I wasn't a vampire and the sacrifice required only _one _Petrova doppelganger, so I might as well keep my mouth shut. There was no telling if Rose was stable or not, so I had to stay alive to drive a stake in her heart someday. And if she killed me, there was sadly no vampire blood in my system, so I would die.

"This is it! He's here," Trevor announced at the top of the stairs. Both Elena and I got up from our laying positions and we stood up for the greeting of Elijah Mikaelson. Trevor looked worried and afraid. He was probably scared that Elijah wouldn't except their deal and set them free, but it seemed that Rose had it all covered. Personally, I liked them together. They were family, but still, them as a team, it was cute. "This was a mistake."

"I told you I would get us out of this rubbish, you have to trust me," Rose tried to assure, but Trevor was still on edge.

"No! He wants me dead, Rose!"

Rose pointed to us. "He wants them more!"

"You give them to him and I'll just go. I can't do this, Rose." I was kind of tired of his whining though. Trevor needed to grow some balls for once and just do something bold. Honestly, the vampire sounded like a whiny four year old not getting what they wanted. "He'll have mercy on you, but I need to get out of here." Rose walked over to Trevor and put her hands on him to calm him down.

"Hey!" she called, trying to get his attention. "What are we?"

Trevor took a deep breath and answered, "We're family. Forever." I wanted to make a witty comment about how cute the whole thing was, but pounding on the door made me stop cold. Elijah was here and he was getting impatient. Elijah and Klaus thought the line ended with Katherine until they both heard about the two twins that looked exactly like Katerina Petrova. Klaus probably dug more into it and Elijah probably waved them off and then snapped their neck. _I haven't even met the man and I already know how he would have acted._

"You're scared," Elena commented, realizing. I couldn't comment on how stupid she was because Trevor literally just had a mental break down and she was only realizing that they weren't crazy about the idea of meeting someone who they were running from. But she was my sister and no matter which new level of dipshit she reached, I loved her and I would protect her with my life.

"Stay with them," Rose instructed Trevor and then she left his arms to go up the stairs and answer the door. "And don't make a sound." Trevor didn't say anything to us, he just kept walking around and pacing while sweating like he was running a marathon. I felt bad for the poor lad to be honest, he was truly scared, but he made no effort to hide it. Unfortunately, the got even more worked up when we all heard two pairs of footsteps walking our way. I already met an Original but I was nervous to meet another.

Elena started pacing around with Trevor while I just sat on the couch, checking my nails. I mostly had a carefree attitude about everything, but meeting Elijah met meeting a part of Klaus's family that didn't know I use to sleep with his brother. But I had to hide my fear because that was just not how Courtney Gilbert rolled.

Suddenly, I was by my sister's side when Elijah walked through the entrance at the top of the stairs with Rose. He actually did look exactly how Klaus described him; business looking and formal. His haircut was a little off putting, but the rest of his face was gorgeous. _I rest my case on all vampires being attractive._

"There's two of them?" Elijah asked, with is dashing British accent. I didn't feel the way I felt when Klaus talked, but it was close enough.

"Didn't I mention that?" Rose said smugly, proud of herself. She reminded me a lot of Katherine, but in a less evil way. Elijah was suddenly standing in front of Elena, staring her with steel eyes. I wanted to walk in front of Elena and tell Elijah to think about personal space, but once again, he only needed one doppelganger. I was confused though. Elijah didn't talk to his brother much, so why was he looking for the doppelganger. That didn't make a lick of sense to me. I wouldn't go looking for something that I didn't need really, unless Elijah wanted to get back in Klaus's inner circle.

Elijah got closer and closer to Elena's face, but instead of kissing her, like I thought he would, he bent his head down to sniff her neck. Probably to make sure she was still human. Next thing I know, he's at my neck smelling it. "Human. Impossible," he muttered after smelling me. Elijah stared at me so I put on a smile and shrugged.

"Obviously not, because here we are, living and breathing."

"I don't care really," I told him, smiling. Elena instantly guided me away from Elijah in case he did something. My sister gave me a scolding look and I just kept my smile on like a little bitch. He had some issues about not having any fun or smiling like he was genuinely happy. All he had was this annoying face that reminded me that he was a Kristen Stewart. Never looked happy.

Luckily, Elijah ignored me. "We have a long journey ahead of us. We should be going."

Elena looked behind Elijah and pleaded, "Don't let him take us. Please, I'm begging you." She sounded like Trevor. She sounded like an annoying little prat. And of course, she just had to be _my _sister. It amazed me how much we looked alike but how different our personalities were.

"One last piece of business and then we're done," Elijah informed us, looking straight at me. I was going to give him my special finger, but he turned away from me too quickly. There was some shit about to go down and I was in the front row ready for it. Elena tapped on my shoulder so I looked over to see her alarmed look. I rolled my eyes and pointed to the note saying that Stefan and Damon were coming, probably with Alaric's weapons so we were all good. The only thing I was worried about was Elijah. Originals weren't killed as easily as regular vampires and I knew that he had _YEARS _on Stefan and Damon alone, but Elijah, Trevor and Rose vs. Stefan and Damon plus two humans? The odds were not ever in our favor.

"I have waited for this day for so long, Elijah," Trevor said as Elijah made his way towards the two. "I am truly, very sorry." Trevor sounded sincere and I would have forgave him, but Elijah wasn't me.

"Oh, no, your apology is not necessary," Elijah told him.

Trevor insisted, "Yes. Yes, it is. You trusted me with Katerina, and I failed you…deeply." I felt even worse for the guy because it was my grandmother that fucked him over and then ditched. What did that say about me?

"Yes, you are the guilty party, and Rose aided you." Elijah turned to Rose who was on the stairs looking a bit less confident. "Because she is loyal to you. That, I truly honor." Elijah stood back in front of Trevor. "Where was your loyalty?"

Trevor looked even more troubled and hurt that he was in that situation. I only hoped he would make it out alive and free. "I beg for your forgiveness."

"So granted," Elijah said happy. I knew what was coming next. Elijah raised his hand to swipe Trevor's head right off his shoulders.

Both Rose and I screamed, "NO!

"You—"

"Don't, Rose," Elijah warned. She stumbled down the stairs to her dead family. "Now that you are free."

A tear fell down my check and Elijah walked over to wipe it away. I pulled away from his grip as soon as the tear was gone from my face. "Come."

"What about the moonstone?" Elena gasped, pulling me back with her. _Elena, you are so fucking lucky that Elijah's here or I would slap you so hard, you'd wish you looked like Godzilla's ass instead of Katherine._

"What do you know about the moonstone?" Elijah demanded, staring at her with his hard glare. I looked from Elena to Elijah and studied the way they looked at each other. Elijah was looking at her with curiosity and Elena was the same, but with fear and determination added.

"I know that you need it and I know where it is," she answered. Elena was fucking up the whole goddamn plan.

"Tell me where it is."

Elena argued, "It doesn't work that way." I felt kind of proud that she was my sister at the moment, but my feelings didn't matter. Elijah looked amused and annoyed at Elena.

"Are you negotiating with me?" Elijah looked back at Rose for an answer.

"It's the first I've heard of it," Rose answered. I hoped harder for Damon and Stefan to show up because they were a whole kidnapping late. Bonnie told us that they were coming and we were in a life or death situation and they were stopping at McDonald's to get a happy meal.

Elijah stared into Elena's eyes, probably trying to compel her but I had a smug smile on because she was wearing vervain. Then Elijah looked down at Elena's boobs. I was going to slap a bitch, but then Elijah said, "What's this vervain doing around your neck?" He grabbed the necklace Stefan gave Elena and threw it behind him. Elena's breath quickened.

"Alright," I called out, interrupting. "Everyone just calm down."

Elijah ignored me, grabbed Elena's head and compelled, "Tell me where the moonstone is."

"Underneath the church ruins," Elena replied in a monotone voice. I threw my hands up in the air and tried to calm myself down. Elena was spilling everything because she just couldn't resist a little compulsion. Was that so hard? Although, it was an Original…so that might have put a damper on thins and mind compulsion was pretty unavoidable….

"What is it doing there?"

"It's with Katherine."

"What now?" I questioned when I heard Elena's reply. How the hell did Katherine get—Stefan and Damon… Damn them… My dream was coming true already. All I needed now was a bottle of blood, a vampire body and an idea to get Katherine out and then I'd have all the ingredients to my scary as hell dream.

Elijah's head abruptly looked up to the ceiling because he probably heard something. I looked at Rose and she was doing the same thing. He let go of Elena and demanded, "What is that?"

"I don't know," Rose replied.

"Who else is in this house?" he pushed on.

"I don't know," Rose responded.

"Прие ги достатъчно дълго." _Took them long enough. _Stefan and Damon were finally here after taking their sweet-ass time to rescue us.

Elijah's head snapped towards me when he heard me mumbled the words in Bulgarian. Everyone's did. I smiled embarrassed and took my sister's hand. Elijah grabbed the both of us…hard and dragged us up the stairs. "You don't think you could loosen up, do you?" I asked, but he didn't reply. "I figured." Elijah dragged us out of the room and into a bigger hallway with stairs leading up. Elijah stopped at the stairs and there was something that ran behind us. Damon was probably the one playing.

Elijah shoved Elena to Rose, but kept me by his side. "Rose…?"

"I don't know who it is!" she yelled back, now annoyed that he kept assuming she knew. There was another blur running down the stairs and past us, making my hair fly up from the force.

"Up here!" someone called, who I was guessing was Stefan, judging by the voice. Elijah fell for it and ran up the stairs, but saw no one. He left me down there with Elena.

"Down here!" Damon called. Elijah turned around to look at us in case we were playing but I just smiled at him and shrugged. Suddenly, a wooden stake was shot at Elijah and it lodged itself in his hand; he was caught by surprise. Elijah slowly pulled out the tiny stake. I held back my laugh and looked at Elena, but she wasn't there; neither was Rose. Rose probably took off and Stefan probably rescued Elena. _Them bitches didn't save me…_

"Excuse me," Elijah called out, taking my arm. "To whom it may concern, you are making a great mistake thinking you can beat me. You hear that? I repeat, you cannot beat me." Elijah broke off the wood of a coat rack and kept a firm grip on my arm. "So I want the other girl, on the count of three or heads will roll."

"He will do it, you know," I called out to Stefan and Damon. Elijah looks at me with confusion but thankful. "So, you need to be quick and just shove the stake up his ass." Elijah's expression turned to anger and I smiled. "Аз знам къде е той." _I met_

"Who?" Elijah inquired.

"вашият брат ти." _Your brother._

"откъде знаеш за него?" _How do you know him?_

"I met him," I whispered.

"I'll come with you." Elena stepped out at the top of the stairs. "Just don't hurt my friends. They're just trying to help us." Elijah, arm still attatched to me, ran up in front of Elena.

"What game are you playing at?" he demanded. Elena didn't answer, she just pulled something in her hand and threw it at us. At first I didn't know what it was until it burst in Elijah's face and he started burning; then I had a pretty good idea of what it was. Elijah let me go so I fell back down the stairs. He was the only thing keeping me steady so without his help, I fell, but I didn't hit the ground. Damon caught me and put me in a corner. Damon left my side and he was gone to do something to fight Elijah. Rose looked at me and we both walked out to the hallway to see Elijah pushed up against a wall hanging by the coat rack Elijah had. _Yeah, like that's going to kill him… We needed white oak, bitch. I don't suppose that coat rack was just mysteriously made out of white oak, now was it?_

Rose left my side once Damon looked at her because she knew she had to get out. She probably knew that Elijah wasn't dead too, he just looked all gray and vein-y. Damon walked to try and get her, but Elena's voice stopped him. "Just let her go." I saw the way he looked at Elena with loving eyes. She had him whipped. Elena gasped and started running down the stairs, and Damon thought it was for him so he smiled but Stefan got up and Elena ran into his arms. I crossed my arms, smirked and leant against the wall, watching the whole cliché scene. Too bad our lives weren't a comedy show, Damon and me. It could be called, _The Freak Vampire and the in love with His Brother's Girlfriend Dick. _We'd be a hit.

Elena hugged Stefan but mouthed 'Thank you' to Damon. He nodded and walked over to me. "Big day, huh?"

I just smirked at him. "You are really in love with her, aren't you?" I whispered. Damon scoffed and shook his head. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." Damon rolled his eyes but wrapped an arm around my waist and led me out of the house. "Damon, notice anything different?"

"No, what?"

"Maybe an extra heartbeat?" I hinted with a smirk. Damon stopped walking and I did too, smugly though, of course. He stared at me with wide eyes, but listened to me.

"It actually happened," he mumbled to himself.

"Hmm."

"You are such a freak," he told me, looking me straight in the eyes with a dead serious face. I chuckled and playfully slapped his chest. Damon's arm returned around my waist and we kept walking. "You really are."

"So, you're not going to offer any help to me?"

"Should I?"

"Damon, I thought I was your best friend," I pouted, crossing my arms again. Damon shrugged. "I see how it is. You can't be friends with one sister because you're going after the other. Okay, I get it."

"Court, I'm not in love with Elena," Damon denied again, with a strong tone.

"And I'm not beautiful!" I said, pretending. "Damon, we all know it. You just don't want to admit it. But enlighten me, why do you love my sister?"

"I don't."

"Damon…" I warned. "You cannot lie to me. I can detect lies with my superpowers." We arrived at the car they drove here with. It had a small backseat, but I guess I would have to deal with it. Damon still didn't say anything. "Fine," I huffed, then I turned to Stefan who was walking with Elena and carrying the bag with all the weapons crap in it. "I know you were listening. Why do _you _love my sister?"

Stefan laughed and Damon popped open the trunk. Elena agreed, "Yeah, why do you love me?"

Stefan sighed. "Elena, you have everything I want in a girl and more. You're caring and beautiful. You're amazing and sweet. If I said everything I liked about you, we'd be here 'till graduation." Elena smiled and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. _Lovesick freaks…_

I scoffed causing everyone to look at me. "You obviously weren't looking for perfection in a girl or you would have gone for _me._" Stefan laughed and Elena silently mocked me. Damon only smiled humorlessly and got in the car. "I get shotgun with Damon." I beat everyone and got in next to him.

"You know Courtney," Damon said. I turned my head to him watching him stare out the window at Stefan and Elena talking close together. "You are perfect, but Elena's something else." I smiled at Damon's loving stare at Elena. _Cue Lovebug by the Jonas Brothers for our comedy show. _Damon was so cute falling for someone.

"That's how everyone feels," I commented, staring at the couple in front of us. I didn't love Matt like that, but he chose Elena over me. Bonnie chose Elena over me. Stefan chose Elena over me. Damon chose Elena over me, but I was okay with that for some reason. I accepted that Elena was always going to be better than me in some way.

"She's just so…amazing," Damon continued.

"Yup, I've heard that."

"I'd never find a girl like her again," Damon stated. "How did my brother get someone like her? She's so caring and he's...he was…"

"A Ripper?" I offered. Damon looked over to me and had confusion written all over his face. "Yeah, I know all about it. And Damon? Maybe he got her because he doesn't kill people on impulse or just seem generally evil."

"I seem evil?" Damon asked.

"The way you walk gives it away, but down worry, bad boys are hot," I told him, winking.

Damon whined, "But I don't care about you… I want her."

"Damon?"

"Huh?"

"Fuck you," I snapped, crossing my arms _once again._

Damon retorted back, "Are you offering?"

"Are you accepting?" Suddenly, Stefan looked back at us and shook his head. We both burst out laughing when Elena asked him what he was doing. Stefan was listening the whole time and he heard everything. So that meant he heard the whole thing about Damon loving her. And how he described what he liked about Elena. There were going to be some issues with those two.

Stefan and Elena kissed quickly and then they both headed to either side of the car and got in Elena was behind me and Stefan was behind Damon. Damon started the car and the first part of the car ride was quiet, until I started talking.

"Can I share something important with you?" I asked, curiously.

"What?"

"You know how I had those dreams that come true?" I asked Stefan, looking in the review mirror.

"You have what dreams?" Damon questioned, staring at me and then looking back at the road continuously. "You never told me about that."

"Oh, sorry, well I have clairvoyant dreams, anyway, I had a dream about Katherine," I explained. Stefan looked even more interested while Damon looked even more annoyed. "She was in the tomb and everything, like she is now. Apparently, she has the moonstone and everything down there with her. So, I go visit her to interrogate what she was doing with the whole thing, and I get angry at her. I suddenly turned into a human and then…" I stopped because I was scared they wouldn't believe me. They needed to know this because it had something to do with them one way or another.

"What?" Stefan pushed.

"I set a fire circle around myself and Katherine told me I was a witch." The whole car was silent after I told them. "Elena woke me up and she told me about…what happened between her and Stefan and just before I went to sleep, I saw Cassie, a ghost, and she accused me of being a witch."

"What exactly did she say?" Damon demanded.

"'Witch.'"

"Courtney," Stefan started, "That could make sense. Maybe your witch powers are what change you back into a human without any other witch's help."

I argued, "Stefan, it doesn't make sense. No one in my family has been a witch. You don't just pop up as a witch out of nowhere. That's not how that works. And there's something else."

"What?" Damon whined.

"I drew—" Once _again, _my phone cut me off by ringing. "Hel-fucking-lo?"

"Darling, why are you in such a bad mood?" Klaus's voice asked. "I just wanted to talk to you because I have Harry here with me." I racked my brain to figure out who Harry was and then it clicked. My little vampire!

"You bastard," I yelled. "Let him go, or so help me, I will hurt you."

"What could you do to me?"

"I could fuck you up so bad, you'd wish you weren't immortal," I threatened, but Damon cut me off for even more threats. He took my phone in a breeze.

"Who the hell is this?" Damon demanded.

"Don't tell him!" I called to Klaus, but Elena's hands shot from behind the seat and got over my mouth. I tried to scream and I licked her hand, but she didn't let up. I thrashed in my seat while Damon interrogated Klaus. I really wished that Klaus _or _Damon found out each other's names. Damon finally gave me my phone back.

"He didn't tell me anything," Damon huffed.

"God bless your soul," I said into the phone. I added, "Well, if you have one."

"Courtney, I wonder how he would feel if he knew that you would let him get tortured when he knew you could stop it," Klaus taunted.

"You pulling some bullshit, but what do you want?" I asked, finally setting for what he wanted.

"I want you to come back."

"No." I hung up and threw the phone out the window. I knew that wasn't the best idea in the world, but who hell cared; I was annoyed with human beings…and vampires. It didn't matter if you white, black, Asian or Indian, or male, female, homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual, human, witch, werewolf, hybrid or vampire, I hated them all equally.

"Care to tell us who that was? And who's Harry?"

"Your. Fucking. Mom." They kept asking me questions, but I said nothing. I ignored them all and they eventually realized that I wasn't going to say anything and they stopped talking to me all together. But that didn't stop them from talking _about _me even when I was right there. They talked about how I was being difficult and about the whole witch thing. Elena even brought up the picture thing which I didn't mind really, but that brought questions that I didn't want answer. I ignored them all and thought of something else.

What if my life was supernatural free?

Would my parents still be alive? They knew about vampires and werewolves and all that crap. What if they didn't? Would things happen differently? Would Elena have snuck off to the party on family night and then killed my parents? Would I still be with my first boyfriend who died from an 'animal attack'? Would I be happy?

We finally arrived at our house and I was the first to get out of the car. Elena stayed in the car with Damon and Stefan even longer and I just walked into the house. "Courtney?! Elena?!" Jeremy called. I walked up the stairs with my arms wide open for either Jeremy _or _Bonnie to hug me. I was surprised Bonnie was there, but at the same time, I wasn't. They spent last night together. Sure they were working on the whole "Kill Katherine" plan, but that didn't mean they didn't bond. The more surprising thing was that they both came out of _Jeremy's _room. They were alone in that little room all this time? Um…I was totally fine with Jeremy dating Bonnie, but could they at least warn us?

Bonnie ran into my arms and hugged me tightly. "Are you okay?" Jeremy inquired and I nodded. Bonnie pulled back and smiled at me.

"I got your message," I told her and she smiled even wider at me. "You are a very powerful witch." She hugged me one more time before Jeremy had his turn. He hugged me like he hadn't see me in millions of years and I loved it. Jeremy really missed me, but that also made me feel disappointed in myself. I left Jeremy because I was throwing a fit and I didn't realize how much I loved my brother. He was amazing and caring and the perfect guy. Bonnie deserved someone like him. He kissed me on the side of my head, but didn't let go. Neither did I.

* * *

><p>I heard someone walk into my sister's room when I was getting on my PJ's. I quickly finished putting them on and then I walked over to the door of Elena's room. I pressed my ear against it and listened hard for <em>Stefan <em>and Elena talking. _What is Stefan doing here so late, anyway? I thought he loved Elena so much he wanted to be with her every minute, but he would respect that she needed some sleep._

"I'm tired, Damon," Elena said, correcting my assumption. _Oh, Damon…_

There was a pause before Damon said, "I brought you this." He probably held up something like vodka so he could get her drunk and sleep with her. Mind you, that didn't sound like Elena, but she didn't have vervain so he could compel her.

"I thought it was gone forever," Elena gasped. "Thank you." There was another pause. "Please give it back." I realized Damon obviously had something she wanted or lost, but he wanted something in return. I was ready to go in there and demand for Damon to give it back and fuck off, but I decided the worst case scenario was that everyone died, so I continued listening.

"I just have to say something," Damon insisted, sounding a bit sad.

Elena asked frantically, "Why do you have to say it with my necklace?" _So he does have something she lost; her vervain necklace. Oh, this was going to be good. _Maybe it was bad that I was listening and Damon was about to compel Elena and I didn't do anything about it, but Courtney's had to entertain herself.

"Well…because what I'm about to say is…probably the most selfish thing I've ever said in my life."

"Damon, don't go there," Elena warned, but Damon cut her off.

"No, no, I need to say this out loud and you need to hear this." I was ready for the big punch line. "I love you, Elena. And it's because I love you that…I can't be selfish with you. And why you can't know this…? I don't deserve you…but my brother does." My heart almost burst in to pieces at his words.

_CUTEST._

_THING._

_THAT._

_I._

_HAVE._

_EVER._

_HEARD._

_IN._

_MY._

_LIFE! Damon Salvatore, you need a romantic comedy named after you. It could be called, "I Love Someone I Can't Have and In the Meantime, I'll Just Murder People Which Makes Her Hate Me More." I know I'd watch it._

There was a long pause of silence so I could party that Damon was finally admitting it. And to Elena. This was just about the most eventful thing that ever happened in her boring old life, so I was ready for the waterworks.

Damon mumbled, "God, I wish you didn't have to forget this." I stopped doing my happy dance and started doing my sad dance. He wasn't going to let her remember? That was some bull. Elena needed to remember so she could realize Damon was perfect, they fall in love, get married and then Damon stopped moping about how he wanted her instead of me. It was all perfect and I would have to get them together. Katherine would be happy because she'd have Stefan, I'd get the hybrid Klaus, Matt and Caroline would get back together, Bonnie and Jeremy would hook up and all would be right again in the world. "But you do."

Then, I hear a 'whoosh' and there's no one talking. Damon left. _Pussy…_

I guess it was just up to me and my super, cupid powers to get them together again. But we all know, I have no powers, so that could set me back a tiny bit...

* * *

><p><strong>Hey! So, I know this is a really short chapter, but the episode didn't really have that many things happen at the place, so that's a bore. But at least everyone got their feelings out there and Stefan and Elena are kind of back together. Alright, see you next update.<strong>

**katherineismikaelson**


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

**Hi guys! Sorry this part took so long and sorry this part is short (I don't have much to work with). I didn't realize that it's been, like, five days since I've updated and now I feel bad. So, here you go!**

_A voice called to me, "Open the note, Courtney."_

_I was in a pitch black room. I couldn't make out anything in there, but I knew there was something I was missing. I was human again, so it wasn't like I could do anything. The dream had been going on for weeks. Even when it should have been morning, there was still no light to come and shine. And I couldn't wake up no matter how hard I tried and all I could do was walk around the place. The room had no walls that I could feel or see. It didn't have a ceiling either. The room I was in wasn't a room, it was more like a platform. I wasn't completely sure since I couldn't see shit. There had been a voice calling to me the whole time I was there. It was telling me to open a note; the note I was guessing came from my mother. The voice only said that and nothing else. There was so much confusion going through my head, I couldn't really think of anything else. I could only hear the pounding of my heart in my eardrums when they stopped talking._

_"Did you open the note?"_

_"No," I whispered._

_"Shame on you."_

_It said, "Open the note" in Bulgarian, "Отворете на бележката."_

_I replied, "Аз не знам къде е." _I do not know where it is.

_"Намери го!" _Find it!

_Light cracked through something that appeared to be a door. I ran to the light like an idiot and got out of the dark room. When I stepped out, I was faced with green plants and big trees as my surroundings. The floor was filled with plants and rocks. It reminded me of some kind of forest. I continued walking around the forest and it led me to a cave kind of thing. I _was _looking around for other signs of life, but there was obviously none on this _island-like _place, so I just followed the curiosity that was flowing through my blood._

_In the cave, there was an opening in the ground. I found myself walking towards the hole and jumping into it. I jumped down gracefully and landed on my feet and followed the dark path in front of me. It was some kind tomb and I could tell it wasn't well known._

_I opened my eyes in to see a man lying on a rock with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked petrified or in a sleep that lasted years. There was rocks molded on his face, dirt in his hair and he was strapped down on the rock._

_I could just barely see his lips move when I listened to him whisper one demand._

_"Open the note."_

I opened my eyes and stared up at my light green ceiling. _If that dream doesn't mean something, I don't know what does. That whole thing just totally turned me off the whole life thing._

It was a creepy dream and I wasn't ready to die. Not that the dream had anything to do with dying, just opening the note, it was creepy as fuck and I was about to die because I felt like someone was going sneak up on me and scare me shitless and I don't know where I'm going with this.

I wasn't a vampire again so it wasn't like I could hear anyone if they were at the house, so I just did a run check of the house. Just as I expected, there was no one in the house and I was completely alone. Of course, I needed to find someone to turn me back into a vampire so I could help Katherine get out in some way. But there was something I definitely needed to do first.

Back in my bedroom, I dug through the bag I brought with me and I found the small envelope Isobel gave me. It was obvious that the note they were all talking about was the note my mother gave me before leaving and killing herself. Sure, I had no idea what was about to happen and why my subconscious wanted me to open the damn note so bad but it really didn't matter because I was about to open it anyway.

I sat on my bed and flipped the envelope over to the side where it was sealed. I took a breath before opening the note that could literally change my life. Then, I slipped out the paper from the envelope and unfolded it. It read:

_Dear Courtney, my dear daughter,_

_I am leaving you. We didn't get to spend any time together, but I have a feeling that we'll get to see each other again even after I'm dead. This is very important, so you have to listen. Katherine should have told you this when she first met you but she didn't. I am sorry you have to find out this way._

_So you might have encountered some ghosts and talked to them. Well, that's because you're a witch. Usually witches can't see the dead, but you can. Why? Because you did die. Not as in 'turned-into-a-vampire' died, more like a 'died-and-then-came-back-as-a-human' kind of died. Again, I really am sorry that you didn't find out about this earlier. I only know a little; go to Katherine for more. Courtney, has any witch ever been scared of you? Well you cheated death in a way they have never seen before. You were replaced, but that's because you're a new supernatural force that no one's ever seen before._

_You love Elena, and so do I, so I suggest you don't fall under the influence of what I'm about to say._

_You are supposed to assassinate Elena Gilbert, the doppelganger. You have to go to Katherine for the full details. She's the one who told me. Now Courtney, don't do anything crazy. You just need to tell Elena and Bonnie, no one else. Damon obviously loves Elena and he'd do anything to protect her._

_Go to Katherine now and ask her for the rest. I can't give you any more than I've already told you. Courtney, I love you. You are my daughter, one way or another._

_Isobel_

My heart was racing so fast, I could feel it pounding through my teeth. There was so much in that note that meant something. There was so much that I couldn't even take in without panting. It didn't make sense… _I'm a witch? Meant to kill the doppelganger? Damon really can't find out about this… _I decided I would throw something on and pay a visit to Katherine Pierce in the tomb where she was supposed to be for 100 years.

I grabbed my phone and I called a taxi. Elena was at school, so she had one car; Jenna finally went to work so she took the other car. I was left alone with no car, but I assumed that I could run to every destination I needed because I was a vampire. There was no one to call because I couldn't trust anyone, but Katherine. If I called Elena, she'd tell Stefan who'd tell Damon unknowingly and I'd be dead. If I told Bonnie, she'd tell Elena, who'd tell Stefan who'd tell Damon and I'd be dead. If I told Caroline, she'd tell Bonnie, who'd tell Elena, who'd tell Stefan, who'd tell Damon and I'd be dead. See my point? I was alone, except for Katherine and maybe Lucy, although, I heard she was family of the Bennetts, so she might tell Bonnie.

When the taxi finally arrived, I barked out the directions and told him to step on it. We got to the outskirts of the forest quicker than I thought. "We're here," the taxi driver stated blankly. Instead of paying cash, I grabbed his face and I kissed him on the lips. At first he was surprised, but then he started to kiss me back. I wasn't going to lie, he was a decent kisser; enough to make me want more. But I pulled away and I waved to him.

"Bye—" I looked at his name tag. "—Johnny." I closed the door and he actually drove away, probably with a giant smile on his face. I continued to walk through the forest and found my way to the tomb entrance. I hoped that my dream wasn't true and Elena wasn't still there talking to Katherine. Luckily, my prayers were answered and I found no one talking to Katherine. "Katherine," I screamed out, but not too loud. "We need to talk you bitch."

Katherine came out from the shadows with a big smile on her face. _Scoff, she is just so proud of herself, isn't she? _"Your sister came to interrogate me."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I demanded, ignoring her other words. Katherine tilted her head confused.

"Tell you what?"

"That I'm a witch," I answered angrily. Katherine's face went from confused to alarmed.

She whispered to herself, "You know…" It was almost so quiet, I almost missed it myself, since I was now a human. "Courtney, what you need to understand is—"

"No! You lied to me and now I want the truth."

Katherine tried to reason, "Courtney, I didn't lie. I just didn't say anything about it."

"That's exactly what Elena did," I pointed out.

"No, she actually did lie to you," Katherine said. "I just wanted to wait to tell you so you could bring back Elena yourself. It's better if you have a connection with the person you're trying to resurrect."

"Katherine, you are just as bad as her…"

"No, _Raina, _I promise, I am nothing like her," Katherine pleaded, bending over with her hands clapped together. "I'll tell you everything, I promise. But please, can you forgive me?"

"Fine, tell me. All of it," I ordered.

"Thank you." Katherine smiled, but I didn't. "It goes back to when I was running from Klaus as he was trying to kill me. I killed myself in Trevor and Rose's house and then I was a vampire. My stomach, it hurt for days and I went to see a witch about it. Of course, the witches rejected me since I was a vampire and one witch finally decided to help me. When she realized what was going on, she did a spell and ran. My stomach stopped hurting, but I needed to know what she did.

"So I hunted her down," Katherine explained as she slid down the wall of the tomb on her butt. "I demanded to know and she told me. She said that I was pregnant with a child." A tear ran down her cheek and I started to get insight on where this was going. "_Raina. _Then I killed her when I killed myself. She also told me that she did a spell so she could continue the legacy the Original Witch created. Someone to kill the doppelganger. You were in my stomach, Courtney. You were supposed to be my baby girl and _I _killed you. I am so sorry. I didn't realize that birthing you meant confirming my own death. You are supposed to kill Elena so Klaus get to turn into a hybrid."

I was silent and I couldn't even bring myself to look at her.

"_Raina, _come here." Katherine held her arms out for me and I found myself in the tomb next to her. It was a touching moment, but I couldn't think anything but: _Assassin._

**Hi again.**

**Klausisgod4- Thank you! I really don't think I'm that good or funny, so thank you for that. I love reading comedy, I just never thought I could write it. It's funny that you want that scene too with Klaus because I'm excited about it too! I can't wait for Courtney to be surprised (but not all that surprised) that Klaus found her and Elena. And about Courtney and Stefan, I really want them together. I love Elijah, but I really don't want her to play both of the brothers, although Courtney and Kol's relationship is…interesting. Elijah kind of hates Courtney to be honest, but I might make another story about them together. But don't worry, there will be more Elijah.**

**Guest- Jenna will not hate Courtney. I promise.**

**I'll try to update with a longer part tomorrow.**


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

I got up out of Katherine's arms and said goodbye to her. There was no telling how this was going go. Damon was my best friend and I wanted to tell him everything, but I guess there were some things that I just needed to keep to myself. But there was a limit that was in our relationship. Elena would always come first even if I fucking compelled him to not kill me. Damon was in love and there was nothing I could do to change that. Not that I really wanted to change that, because Elena didn't deserve to get killed; much less by me. I was a new supernatural force; _Assassin. _Something witches feared. That wasn't a good sign if anything. It was a warning.

I had to get away. Elena would get angry that I was doing that again, but it was for _her _protection so she could deal with it. I didn't want to leave, but now that I knew what it actually all meant, I couldn't help but want to end my life so she was okay. I other choice really because if I killed her, no one won. It kind of explained why I wanted to kill her so many times as we were growing up or why I had waves of hate towards her. Or when I would criticize her. But even through all of that, I found love for Elena. She was born my twin sister even though I wasn't supposed to be her sister.

As I walked towards the road, my phone started buzzing in my pocket and I answered.

"Hey," Elena's voice greeted and my heart clenched. "Where are you? You didn't go to school and we have some information on Katherine."

"Yeah, I'll be home in a while. I just wanted to interrogate Katherine, but it looks like you have it covered," I lied smoothly. I heard Elena sigh and sit down.

"But you're human. She could have hurt you."

"Elena, stop worrying," I demanded softly, "It's not like I went in the tomb with her." _Lie. _"Plus, Katherine can suck it." _Lie. _"I won't let her kill me again." _Truth._

"Alright, but we need to talk when you get back," Elena told me firmly. I nodded. Of course.

"I'll see you then."

Elena replied breathily, "Bye, Court." I hung up the phone and I let out a big breath. Now that I knew what I had to do, maybe I could restrain myself from killing her or hurting her in any way because Elena deserved better than this life. She deserved to be someone in California living the dream with Damon and Stefan with Katherine. Neither of them deserved to live that way yet I didn't want to curse it upon someone else and their family line. No one needed the curse drama and Klaus just needed to suck it up and realize that he wasn't going to get what he wanted.

It was too late to call a cab and too late to walk, so I dialed the one number I could always trust. "Tyler, could you pick me up?"

"Courtney?"

"Yeah…"

"So, you get back in town but you don't say anything to me?" Tyler growled to me before he answered my questioned. His greeting caused me to sigh.

"Ty, I had some things to take care of, and then I threw my phone out, so if you called me any times, it didn't go through. We picked this one up on the way back into Mystic Falls and I changed my number. Sorry, I didn't inform you of that."

Tyler's tone went back to the playful one I knew and loved. "Alright, I guess that checks out, but what about setting up for the Masquerade Ball? Or the Masquerade Ball? We couldn't have shared a dance or anything? Court, I needed you at that time because—"

I literally just remembered the bad news about Tyler as he was bringing it up. I interrupted him with an apology, "Tyler, I am so sorry about your dad. He really didn't deserve to die." Tyler was silent on the other end, so I took the opportunity to say something else. "But Tyler, I hate to tell you, but your dad was kind of a dick. Mind you, he didn't in any way deserve to die."

"I know he was a dick," Tyler sighed. "But I still loved him. He was my dad."

"Tell you what, you come pick me up and we can talk about it?" I offered happily. I added, "We can even share that dance."

"Alright, I'll come. Where are you?"

I told him, looking around, "I'm on the edge of the forest near the old Fell's church." It sounded like Tyler (with human hearing) was opening the car because of the beeping and shut the door.

"I'll be right over."

"Bye." Tyler hung up on me and all I had to do was wait. I didn't have to wait for long because Tyler was pulling up in front of me in ten minutes, tops. He must have been speeding or something like that because it did not—could not take that short of a time to get to me all the way over here from his house.

I opened the door to Tyler smirking. Because we got on so well, I started smiling along with him as I got in the car and closed the door. Tyler didn't even wait to let me get my seatbelt on, he just started driving, not that I really minded. Tyler was one of those guys I could just know and love even though he had his imperfections. Tyler and I…we were those kind of people who could talk to each other about anything and nothing crossed the boundary. Fuck that; Tyler and I didn't have boundaries. We just spew out shit and the other listened.

"So, how did you end up out here?"

"Don't fucking laugh," I snapped at him playfully as he chuckled at me. I wasn't in the mood to fuck around, but he always made me smile for some reason. "I don't need this right now because I'm going to get plenty of it when I see Elena."

"Court, you're out in the woods at night," Tyler laughed. "Of course I'm going to ask you how this happened? What? Whore job went wrong?"

I playfully pushed him, but not enough for him to swerve. "No. I've told you this before, I'm not a prostitute. If anyone, it's you."

"And why is that?"

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "You cheated on me."

It was Tyler's turn to scoff. "You weren't good enough."

I gasped playfully and held my heart. "Tyler, I am very hurt," I told him sadly. "Why would you say that? My heart can only take so much…"

Tyler replied, "Stop your whining and just tell me what you were doing out there."

"I was thinking," I lied. Well, half was the truth because I was thinking about what was going to happen to me but I was also talking to Katherine. There was so much going on, I just wanted to take a break. I wanted to tell it all to Tyler, but he already had his werewolf problems to worry about. I didn't want to burden him with mine.

"About what?" he inquired softly.

"About life… About how long I was gone. What I'm going to do with my life…" My voice trailed off. "About family."

"You wanna know something?"

"What?"

"I was thinking too," he told me, staring at the road intently. "I was thinking how much I missed you and how much I needed you when you weren't there." I started to feel a little bad since I wasn't there for Tyler when his dad died. I was off sleeping with Klaus who wanted to sacrifice my sister and kill my grandmother. I was a bad person to everyone.

"Tyler—"

He cut me off and continued, "I needed someone who I knew wouldn't judge me and who wouldn't make me feel any worse than I already did. But guess what? She wasn't even there. She was off somewhere else partying because she was throwing a tantrum."

"You don't understand," I tried again, "I was very hurt in ways you cannot under—"

He yelled, "So was I! I was hurt that my father died on me and that I was having issues with everyone around me! And the _ONE_ person I thought I could trust was off sleeping with someone while I was in pain! _YOU_ cannot understand."

A blanket of silence fell over us and I looked down upon myself. Tyler was right…I needed to be there for him and I wasn't. "Tyler, you are so right. And I'm sorry…"

All Tyler said was, "So, we have some catching up to do, huh?"

I smiled and we started talking. The whole way. It was non-stop talking about my trip, our feelings and what happened to our relationship. It was unnerving and much needed for me. Of course I didn't reveal any big evidence, like vampires or how I was betraying my family and friends for someone I literally just met and who was lying to me most of the time, but I did tell him the graphic details about my time with Klaus. I didn't use his name; it was Harry's name (who I was still worried about since the last call from Klaus). He wasn't the craziest about that part, but Tyler being Tyler, he listened to me. Then I listened to him about everything that happened in his life and how he felt about his Uncle Mason leaving (whose death I was still getting over).

Finally, we pulled up at my house and I had to say goodbye to him. "Tyler, our 'Catch-Up' session was needed. I missed you."

"Sure, you did, yet you did nothing to contact me," Tyler responded sarcastically. I laughed shamefully and looked down. Tyler's hand guided my head up so he could look me in the eyes. To most people who didn't know us, they would think we were dating, but to us, this was typical best friend move. "I missed you too." Then he wrapped his arms around me and I hugged him.

"Ty, we have to do this again and soon," I whispered into his ear right before we pulled away from each other.

"Yes, we really do. And this time, when I call, you answer, alright?"

I nodded before I landed a quick peck on his lips and got out the car. Most friends wouldn't kiss each other goodbye, but we were best friend exes, so our relationship was still kind of fucked up. Yeah, it didn't mean anything, but we still wanted to do it just to show how much we loved each other. As Tyler waved and drove away, I stood there thinking of how sane I would be _without _Tyler and vise-versa. In the end, we'd be nothing without each other. Tyler was basically my sanity, and I was his. No wonder he had those anger issues while I was gone; he didn't have his regularly scheduled dose of Courtney Gilbert.

I walked up to my door and I opened it. There was no one really downstairs, so I made no effort to say anything to anyone. I just walked in the kitchen, grabbed myself a water and an apple before sitting down at the table and eating in the silence. There was really nothing to do, until there was a knock at the door, which was hours later. So, I basically just sat myself there and stared at the water bottle I managed to make last for three hours while just sitting there in silence and semi-dark. I had hit rock bottom.

Elena raced down the stairs when she heard the knock and stopped for a second to look at me. She questioned, "When did you get in? And when did you leave?"

"Oh, you know, at that one hour," I answered vaguely. Elena shrugged and just opened the door. I guessed it was either Stefan or Damon.

"What's going on?" she asked, staring out the door. I didn't make an effort to get up and look who she was talking to when I knew she would just invite them in.

"We paid a visit to Katherine," Stefan's voice said. _So, it's both of them. Of course it is._

"Come in," Elena instantly replied, knowing some shit was about to go down. So did I when I finally decided I would tell them (including Damon) about my little supernatural situation.

Stefan and Damon walked in; Damon with swagger (not _swag _because that's stupid) and Stefan with his usual boring walk. Stefan was cool and sweet, but he had a stake up his ass and we all knew that wasn't good for a vampire. Elena followed them into the kitchen and I followed her.

"Oh goody, we all took a visit to Katherine," I said.

"You talked to her?" Damon asked suspiciously. I rolled my eyes at him. _Always gotta know the shit…_

"Yes, Damon, and I severely regret it, but I got answers."

"What are you talking about?"

I ignored Damon's demand. "What did _you guys _talk to her about?"

Stefan sighed and informed us, "We asked Katherine for the moonstone. She tried to bargain her way out, but we didn't give her an answer."

"Typical Kat," I whispered to myself.

Stefan continued, "The deal was about her giving it to us in return we'd get her out of there and she'd never come back to Mystic Falls." _We all know that's a lie. I've learned from the short time I've known her she doesn't give up when she wants something. Or someone…_

"You don't believe her, do you?" Elena requested.

"Of course not," Damon scoffed, picking up an orange for no reason, "We just want the moonstone."

"According to Rose's friend, Slater," Stefan started, "There's a way to destroy the spell."

"No spell means no doppelganger sacrifice," Damon stated obviously. "Meaning you live." _What about me? I could be the doppelganger too, since I'm human. But they don't know what I know; I can't be, but they still don't even think about my safety._

"Well, how do you destroy the spell?" I piped up. I needed to know because that meant my supernatural duty wasn't needed so I wouldn't have urges (eventual urges) to kill Elena while she's near the knives that are easily accessible to me.

"By releasing it from the moonstone," Stefan told me, leaning on the counter.

"How do you guys even know this is going to work at all?" I questioned. _Yeah, Katherine's not going to let that happen. Even if there is no spell, Klaus is going to kill her._

"We have a crafty witch on our side." _Not only one witch…_

"You've discussed this with Bonnie?" Elena stated, more than asked.

"She's agreed to do anything to help us break it," Stefan replied, sounding…broody. It wasn't like I had anything against Stefan, he just really needed to loosen up. Like, drink, feed on humans and sleep with someone other than Elena (not suggesting myself (although that would be nice) because it didn't seem like he was enjoying her. Stefan was an uptight, overprotective boyfriend and friend. That wasn't fun.

"Katherine has the moonstone," I reminded them, "How are you going to get it from her?"

"We are going to pry it from her dead, cold hands," Damon said, "it's the only way."

"Bonnie just needs to find a way to break the seal long enough for us to get in and get out all without letting Katherine see any daylight."

Elena sat down and sighed, "Looks like you've got it all planned out."

Damon confirmed, "Yup, we're awesome."

"Except for one thing," Elena objected. Even Elena had me confused.

"What?" Stefan inquired. It was a good plan. Of course I didn't like it and I had to find a way to stop it, but it was a legit, good plan and I was impressed with the Salvatores.

"I don't want you to do it," Elena answered and I almost went off on her. This bitch is never grateful, is she? Stefan and Damon found a way to save her ass, but she doesn't want it? What kind of dumbass card is she playing? _Dipshit of the day, everyone. Elena Gilbert won the fucking Dipshit of the Day Award for not wanting to save her own ass. Way to go dumbass._

"What are you talking about Elena?" Damon requested.

"Yeah, it's the only way to save you," Stefan agreed. "We have no other choice."

"What about Klaus?" Elena inquired. _Nevermind, I'll take that award. My sister is thinking ahead. Yup, Klaus will throw an Original temper tantrum because he doesn't get to be a goddamn hybrid. This guy has lived for 1000 years, yet he is still a giant baby when it comes to not getting what he wants._

"We'll find him right after we get the moonstone," Stefan replied.

"Is that before or after he kills everyone I love?" _Ooh, Stefan, my twin doesn't even work at the Mystic Grill but she just served you. _"Including the three of you?" Damon had that look of defeat on his face while Stefan looked like he was thinking. Elena was thinking ahead. Maybe she wasn't such a dumbass after all.

"Elena, if we can _de-spell _the moonstone, we could save your life."

"I know, everyone keeps saying that." Elena got up from her spot and tried to walk away, but I stepped in front of her. She looked at me with confusion.

"No, no, we have something else to talk about," I announced, "So everyone sit your ass down. Now that we're off Elena, we're on me. Although, this conversation goes right back to Elena."

"What, Courtney?" Damon demanded seeming annoyed.

I snapped, "This involves saving your precious Elena, so shut the hell up, lose the attitude and listen." Damon didn't say anything after that and took a seat next to Elena like Stefan. I wasn't sat down; I was pacing in front of him. My tone changed when I begged, "Damon, don't get mad, though."

"What are you talking about?"

"So, remember when I turned back into a human a few nights ago?" I asked, trying to think of what I would really say. There were so many scenarios that I played out in my head, but all of them ended with Damon tearing off my head and running off with Elena in the sunset. If I died, I guess I died. But there was a chance I'd come back alive, like what happened when I died in Katherine's stomach, yet there I was pacing in front of my twin and two vampires that deeply cared about her.

"What's your point?"

I ignored Damon. "And Elena, remember when I told you about the note from Isobel?" She nodded. "Well, I read it and I know why I change back into a human. The note left me even more confused after I read it, so I went to see Katherine to clear up the details."

This time, Stefan snapped, "Courtney, just get on with it."

"Alright! I repeat, Damon, don't get mad. I didn't know. Stefan, Elena, you too." _Klaus will probably hate me too, since I'd be killing his precious doppelganger. She is any and all chances of his hybrid happiness. _"So, I'm just going to say it." My words sped up and I said what I needed to say fast.

"I'msupposedtoassassinatethedoppelgangerwhoisElenasoI'dbekillingmytwinandyourtruelove."

"What the fuck did you just say?" Damon asked after moments of silence. All of them looked confused, so it was good they didn't understand.

I tried to avoid all eye-contact with them as I repeated what I had to say. "My supernatural duty is to kill the doppelganger, who is Elena and who is my sister. I'm half witch, so I have some powers and being a vampire cancels out the witch powers so that's why I keep turning back into a human. So, basically, I'm called an _Assassin _and Elena is my target. But please don't kill me because I'll just come back alive to fulfill my duty. And I'm not actually Elena's twin, I'm more of her aunt. I was actually supposed to be born Katherine's daughter, but then she turned into a vampire and that killed her unborn baby, me, so I just showed up as Elena's twin."

None of them said anything, so I took that as a threat. Damon was going to kill me. Stefan was going to burn my body. And Elena would dance on my ashes. There was no coming back when your body is gone. Unless I would rise from the ashes like in some cliché supernatural movie about witches or something. Like a stupider version of _Carrie _except the original was actually pretty good. I finally looked up at them and saw their faces. Elena looked confused, yet terrified at the same time. Her eyes told me that she was in deep thought about what she just heard. Stefan looked like he was angry about something. I was guessing he was angry at me for just dropping it on them without any thought when they already had other things to worry about. Damon…he looked sorry. Like he didn't want this to happen to any of us. He was acting like me; I didn't want any of us to have to deal with this. I just wished that Klaus would get over his obsessive hobby and just be happy. The whole hybrid dream would never make him happy. More people would hate him and he'd be alone. Completely alone; even if he did have his army of hybrids surrounding him, no one would love him.

"Say something," I requested softly, almost pleading.

"Do you want to kill me?" Elena asked plainly.

"No…"

"Then come here." Elena jumped up from her seat and ushered me into a hug. She held on just as tight as I did and we didn't let go. Stefan got up from the seat, but he didn't look happy at all. Damon looked… hopeful. I didn't know why, but he looked hopeful.

"Are you sure she was even telling the truth?" Stefan asked. Elena finally let me go and stood by my side as Stefan questioned me.

"It explains what it all means," I offered, but Stefan just shook his head. "You think she's playing with me?"

"That's what Katherine does," Stefan growled, "She plays mind games and she lies to you."

"Stefan, the witches were scared of me. Not because I was a vampire, because I was something they had never seen before or were told to fear me," I replied back, in just as a harsh tone.

"Yeah, but what if it is true?" Stefan turned around to us with tears in his eyes. "What if Elena has to lose her sister? What if Jeremy has to lose his sister? What if I have to lose my friend?" I smiled at Stefan.

"You won't have to," I said and then hugged him. He hugged back even tighter and I looked at Damon. He winked at me and gave a supportive smile. I thought he would have acted worse, but Stefan seemed like the most broken about the news.

"So, I guess you have to practice with Bonnie?" Elena asked, putting a hand on my shoulder, indicating that I needed to pull back from Stefan. She was right. I was enjoying having Stefan's arms around me way more than I should've, but I couldn't help it really. "Since you're a witch?"

"Yeah," I replied, "I guess so."

"You better not go stabbing your Elena while she's sleeping," Damon warned playfully. I laughed and hugged him too. "Because I would seriously hate to rip your head off."

"See, that's the thing," I pointed out, being serious. "I don't think you can kill me until the doppelganger is dead. I died when Katherine died, but she had an heir that would eventually lead to the other doppelganger in the family. When Elena showed up, I showed up. There's really nothing you can do to kill me until Elena is dead too."

"Well, we can use that to our advantage," Damon announced cheerfully, "As long as Elena's alive, you can't die. That means you can go into war without being killed."

"Damon, I can still feel pain," I objected. He stared at me like I had no point. "So, I can be tortured."

"Oh, well, you can just take one for the team, can't you?"

I flipped him off and said, "Now that we've got all this drama out of the way, I'll be in my room wondering if I should even stay around Elena."

"You haven't had urges to kill her before?"

"No…"

"So, you'll be fine," Stefan tried to reassure. Elena wrapped her arm around Stefan's waist. "Don't worry, we'll kill you if you try to kill Elena." _Yup, because that makes me feel better._

I just continued to walk to the stairs. I called back when I got to the top, "Elena is our number one priority, I forgot." I heard someone groan and I just smiled. I found my way to my room in silence and I sat on my bed. There lied the letter from Isobel and all my dreams of being normal. Actually, those were in the trash with all the shit.

I looked at the letter one more time before throwing it across the room (or attempting) and lying back on my bed. There was really nothing to do but go to school. I hated to admit it, but school was probably the highlight of my day. _If you're bored without school, then you are truly lonely in life, you know that right, Courtney?_

Someone knocked on my door and I sat up. I looked over to see Stefan standing there with his hands in his pockets and his face hopeful. "Stefan, come in," I invited, a little confused. He probably just wanted to talk to me about the whole plan and stuff, but I couldn't help but feel butterflies in my stomach flying around.

"Damon and Elena left so it's only you and me," Stefan informed me. I stood up with him as he closed the door. "I just wanted to ask you something."

"Sure." I landed my hands in my pockets. "Shoot."

Stefan started talking hesitantly. "Elena and I… I'm not sure where we are and I will always love her but…" I was having a feel on where this conversation was going. It was about protecting Elena and how she felt about the whole plan.

"Yes, Stefan," I agreed smugly. "I'll help you with your 'Elena' problem."

"No," Stefan denied, "It's not that." The smile dropped from my face and Stefan was closer. "Sometimes, when I'm with you…I get this feeling. This feeling of… I don't really know what I'm feeling, but I know it's more than friends. Maybe it's infatuation or maybe it's a crush. I know we're friends and I don't want to ruin what we have, but I can't help but want to try something else with us." Stefan cupped his hand under my face.

_Attention! The butterflies are out of control! Repeat: the butterflies are out of control! Pull away from Stefan._

"And I wanted to ask you…" Stefan leaned his head closer to my face.

_Oh! The heart is taking over control! Retain control, brain! Re-fucking-gain control, brain._

"Do you feel the same?"

_Attention! We're fucked. The heart wants what the heart wants. We can only wait and watch the inevitable._

I leaned my lips a bit closer and we were touching. The kiss at first was small and tender, but soon our lips were moving faster and the kiss began to become more forceful. His other arms snaked around my waist to pull me closer and one of my hands was on his chest while the other was holding on to his neck. Stefan backed me up against a wall and we continued to kiss like animals.

_Yup. Brain, you fucking lost. You're supposed to be in control, but of course, the 'Feelings' setting is on, so that always trumps brain._

Stefan pulled away after he realized I was running out of breath, since I was back into a human. When his lips detached from mine, I gasped for air, breathing quickly, yet not breathing like a total dog.

Stefan said, "I'll take that as a yes."

"What about Elena?" I asked.

"She can deal with it," Stefan waved off. "You wanna do that again?" All I did to answer was kiss him again.

_Courtney Gilbert, you and your feelings are going to hell._

* * *

><p>"Stefan, did I just have sex with my sister's ex-boyfriend?"<p>

"I think you just did. And I had sex with my ex-girlfriend's sister," Stefan confirmed, breathing heavily like me. "We are so going to hell."

"Stefan, you are very right about that," I agreed, turning over to face him. Stefan smiled at me and we had a quick kiss again. I sighed. "What are we telling everyone?" I was really thinking about that after Stefan was…_out _of me. If Elena found out, I'd be screwed. She'd be angry and then Damon would be angry that Elena was angry and so would Bonnie and Caroline. I really didn't win at all because I went after my sister's _and _my mother's (that's really weird to say) man. If that didn't mean I was damned, I didn't know what did. I did something so unspeakable, so horrible that even Miley Cyrus would look down on me. But Stefan did do something bad too.

"Let's just keep it a secret for now," Stefan suggested, putting his finger to his lips playfully which did cause me to laugh. "I really just want to do that again." Stefan wrapped his arms around me and kissed me on the nose. I giggled, like the cliché character I was and tried to kiss him back. Right before our lips met, the cliché moment had to get even more fake. Stefan's phone started ringing. "Are you kidding me?" he groaned, turning over to his side to answer the phone in his pants. I just wrapped the covers around my…_beauties, _and put my head on my hand held up my elbow lying on the pillow. "Hello?" Stefan answered. Since I didn't have my vampire hearing anymore, I had to wait for his words to help me piece together what was going on. "Alright, I'll be right over."

"Damon?" I guessed.

"Yeah," Stefan confirmed as he tried to get out the bed. I groaned and put my hand on his chest to try and push him back down on the bed. "I know, I don't want to go either. I want to stay here by your side. Your sexy, naked side," he growled playfully. "But I have to go make a plan to save your twin."

"Damon'll probably call me too," I assumed, getting out of the bed on the other side. _Fucking hell. That's where you're going, Courtney. _"I guess I have to get ready too." I didn't even try hiding my body from Stefan because he's seen the same one millions of times. Katherine's, Elena's and now mine. I didn't have anything to hide. Of course, I was way more fit than them, so it was a better sight, but you know, doppelgangers, twins, we were all the same. I went in my drawers and got new underwear, but recycled the same clothes.

By the time I had all my clothes on, my phone rang too. "Hey, Damon."

"Come down to the house, now." Damon hung up as soon as he called, but I didn't mind. I had a half-naked Stefan in my room. Before he put on his shirt, Stefan walked over to me and started kissing my neck from behind. It was naughty, yet the best damn thing.

"Tell you what," he mumbled sexily into my ear, "Once we're done over there, we can take a shower."

"Together?"

He settled, "Together."

"And I also need to spray some Febreze in here," I thought out loud. I overlapped my hands on his, that were circled on my waist.

"Why?" Stefan asked.

"It reeks of sex," I giggled and he laughed along with me. "I'll also have to change the sheets."

"And you can do that after we have that shower." Stefan kissed me on the lips before leaving me to go put on his shirt. As he was dressing, I stared at him (not creepily, I hope) while thinking of my dream. If our relationship went on the path I had a feeling it was going on, then Stefan and I'd be getting engaged. And that would be bad because in the end, my brother would hate me and Stefan would be kissing on Elena behind both Damon and mine's back. I don't know about you, but I'd hate to be cheated on. Believe me, it sucks.

"Alright, let's go." Stefan held out his hand for me and I took it as he led me out the door right to his car. We were at the boarding house in no time, sadly since we were having the funniest conversation about speakers, carrots and movies. Stefan parked, yet we still didn't get. All we did was joke around more.

"I got one, I heard it on YouTube," I told him, facing Stefan who was already looking at me. "'In a world ruled by potatoes, one carrot will rise…'" Stefan and I laughed at this more than we should have, but we just couldn't stop. It led up to the point where we had to hold each other from falling down.

"That is…so…stupid," Stefan wheezed out in between laughs. I nodded my head and moved my lips but nothing came out; this caused Stefan to laugh even harder, making me laugh harder. It was to the point I was getting even more abs. After minutes, and I mean _minutes _of laughing, we stopped, wiped away our tears and looked at each other. "You are so fun," Stefan told me.

"I know, it's a talent."

"No, I mean, you are so fun. And funny. And charming. You are like…the perfect package." Stefan stared into my eyes intently. "How does Damon not just fall in love with you?"

"Because," I answered simply, a bit jealously, "He loves Elena. Everyone loves Elena."

Stefan shook his head and took my head in his hands. "You are just as perfect as Elena. I think she's even jealous of you. Plus, I love you."

"Really?" It was a little early since we only had sex once, but I wasn't going to argue.

"Yes, I love you," Stefan repeated. "I may not be in love with you _yet, _but I know I definitely love you."

"Stefan, I love you to," I said back to him. He leaned in to kiss me, but I pulled away. "Not here, remember? It's a secret. Now, we are going to walk in there and we are going to act like friends."

"Or we could burst in making out and just go up to my room to finish what we started in yours?" Stefan suggested, winking.

I laughed. "I love that I idea so much more, but feelings of Elena Gilbert? And the wrath of Damon Salvatore? It'll kill us."

"That is very true," Stefan commented.

"We are going to meet up later and we are going to have vampire/witch sex like never before, alright?"

"Alright."

Stefan and I gave each other supporting smiles and got out of the car. Both our hands instantly went to each other, but we had to separate them so it wouldn't raise any questions from anyone. There still was questions about my hair; sex hair and why we carpooled together, but those were minor. My hand still wanted the warmth of his even though we were about to walk into a house full of people that all cared about Elena and who would have my head if I hurt her.

_Feelings! Get a fucking grip._

"So, what is going on?" I asked, returning to my usual self. Not the lovesick one that was in the car with Stefan just a few moments before. Damon looked at me questioning Stefan and I, but I ignored him.

Bonnie answered, "I can lift the tomb spell and then return in all in time for you two—" Bonnie pointed to Stefan and Damon. "—to get in and get out."

"But how?" Jeremy asked, who apparently could now be in meetings. "It took you and your Grams to lift it the first time."

"I have a friend that can help me." Bonnie smiled like she was thinking of someone who could potentially be a boyfriend. I knew that face anywhere. _Bonnie Bennett has a crush! I will have to find out about that later. _"How will you get it?"

"She isn't feeding," Stefan replied. "She's weaker."

"There's two of us and one bitch, tell me who you think will win." Damon took a drink from his glass.

I suggested, "There could be three of us if you just turn me back into a vampire?"

"No, that's not happening."

"Maybe you're estimating her," Bonnie said, staring at me like I was crazy. I rolled my eyes. _Everyone here is uptight._

"We have a plan," Damon snapped. "Is it perfect? No, but then again, what plan is?" Damon had a point. But there was still one question on my mind: _Where is Elena?_

"Why don't I do it?" Jeremy offered. I shook my head right off the bat. "I have my ring. I can get in and get out; no spells required."

"Jeremy, you can go in when I become Asian," I scoffed, and he just rolled his eyes at me.

"Why didn't we think of that, 16 year old child?" Damon asked sarcastically. "Why are you even here?"

Bonnie changed the subject. "Maybe I can better the plan. Do you have something that belongs to Katherine?"

I offered, "Do you want me to go cut off her finger? Because I'd gladly do that." Though it didn't make sense that I'd go in there without getting the moonstone, just the finger, I needed to get my sarcasm out. It was the only way.

Stefan just left the room and came back holding something in his hand. "This belong to Katherine." He held it out to Bonnie to take. "I found it with her things when I thought she died," Stefan informed her. "It was hers."

Bonnie took the picture and she put in an ashtray. I wasn't even sure why Stefan and Damon had an ashtray because they didn't smoke, but there was no time for questioning. The question of Elena's whereabouts was still ringing in my mind. She dipped her two fingers in a glass of water (which came out of fucking nowhere) and the picture lit on fire. Since when does water cause fire? What bullshit is this whole 'witch-magic' thing playing? Bonnie started to mumbled words, but I still couldn't decipher what they were. Since I was a witch, they seemed familiar, but not something I would use.

"What will this do?" Damon asked.

"I can turn it to ash. Blow the ashes on her and she'll be immobilized for a minute or two," Bonnie informed them, but it was all dramatic. I wasn't sure why they had their minds set on making our lives a fucking soap opera, but they were my friends so I had to be nice to them. "Long enough for you to get the stone and get out." She started rubbing her nose like there's something wrong with her and then I realized it was because her nose was bleeding. Damon and Stefan could probably really smell that. She wiped it away quickly and resumed the spell. None of us said anything as she continued, we all just shared stares. I stared at Jeremy to ask him where Elena was, but he shook his head like he didn't know.

Finally, the picture was all burnt to a crisp and Damon decided that he'd get the stakes Alaric had in his trunk and Stefan would get torches. Jeremy walked closer to Bonnie and started arguing with her. I was going to join them when my phone started ringing.

_Tyler calling._

"Hey, Ty, what's up?" I greeted cheerfully even though everyone around me seemed to be all broody.

"Can you come down to the old property in the woods? I need to talk to you." I instantly knew where he was talking about, since we use to play there as children. His tone scared me a bit though. "It's really important."

"Alright, I'll see you soon," I told him, telling the truth. I turned around to see Bonnie smiling at Jeremy and then walking away. They were so getting together in the future. I could just tell. It was adorable. Awkward, no kidding because Bonnie was my childhood best friend and Jeremy was my childhood brother, but everyone deserved their happiness. Who I was I to stand in their way of achieving happiness? Bonnie walked away slowly and Jeremy suddenly had this _look _on his face telling me something was up.

He did something I couldn't see, so I just waved him off and continued to wait with them. I wanted to run off to Tyler just as soon as he called, but at the same time, I wanted to help them with the plan, although, my presence wasn't really needed since I was only human. Neither was Jeremy's, but he always seemed to find his way in all the crap that went on with doppelgangers and he rightfully so did find a way; I didn't like it. He could have been killed and I knew that didn't seem like anything to him because he had his beloved ring, but it could have been just easily ripped as it was to put on his finger.

Jeremy waved to me and started walking out and I didn't think anything of it. I didn't realize he was going to the tomb to get himself killed while Elena was out on a suicide mission. I guess it ran in the fucking family. I was so oblivious, but who could blame me? I didn't know my siblings were so stupid and self-harming. I practically needed to keep them in strait jackets just so they could frigging pee and I'd be unnerved.

I announced, "I need to head off. I need to meet Tyler at the old Lockwood property."

"Goody, you two have fun with that," Damon wished sarcastically and I just smiled back. Then I turned to Stefan and mouthed 'Text me?' He nodded in response. Then I was off walking to the woods where my werewolf friend was, thinking about the full moon.

It was a slow long walk and I wished that I was a vampire so I could just run, but I wasn't and it sucked. Missing the powers I use to have freaking sucked and I wished I didn't have to know such pain. If Katherine would have just killed me while we were lying there crying, everything might have been just a bit better and then I'd have another fake reason for hating her, making them trust me more; even though the plan was still falling apart even without my untimely death.

"You know you can just zap yourself there, right?" I jumped when I heard the voice and turned to my right to see the face. There was Bree, leaning on a tree (it rhymes!) looking all smug. When I saw her, memories of our last encounter came flooding back; all the talk in the bathroom and all the information that would have rocked if I would have known before. "Since you are a witch."

"Goddamn, girl," I cursed, in a low, whisper tone. "You could have killed me and then my family would be hunting down your ghost/witch ass."

"You said it yourself; you can't die without completing your task," Bree reminded me, pushing off from the tree she was leaning on. "So, you'd just come back alive to haunt me. So, what's up? You wanna learn your witch powers?"

"I'll learn with Bonnie," I snapped. I tried to walk away, but Bree put her hand on me. "What?"

"You won't be able to learn with Bonnie. She uses traditional magic," Bree told me grimly. "You are solely based on dark magic, so you can only use dark magic."

"And you are so educated on this, how?"

"Ghost intuition," Bree replied simply. "We've been over this."

"Bree, how could you help me? You're dead," I stated. _She can help me just as much as a pig can fly. Well, Courtney, some pigs fly on airplanes, so that doesn't work. Use another. She can help me just as much as a rat can fly. Well, Court, some rats can— Yeah, I know, Courtney. Look, now you're talking to yourself._

"I was a witch once, remember and I did do a little dark magic myself. Plus, even if I help you with one spell, you'll get the hang of it."

"So you do want me to kill my sister?" I guessed when I realized what she was persuading me to do. Bree shook her head and started walking in the direction the Lockwood cellar was. If she didn't want me to kill my sister, she'd just do the same thing she did in the bathroom; erase my memory of any of our conversations.

"I want you to find who you are, not kill anyone. I want you to use your powers to bring balance," Bree answered like the old woman she was. "You do have more power than the average witch, but that's not necessarily a good thing. I want to help you control it and not get obsessed. If you let me help you, you can achieve great things…"

"You sound like fucking Einstein," I mumbled to myself trying to wrap my head around the whole 'dark magic' situation I had going on. Bonnie used traditional magic, which meant I knew what she was saying, yet it didn't feel familiar so when I started mumbling along with Sabine in New Orleans, she was using dark magic. _Very old witch using dark magic? Oh shit, it's like a TV show. All dramatic, yet interesting as fuck…_

"I know, and you need to learn. So would you like my help?" Bree offered. I took a second to think. On one hand, Bree was still a fucking ghost and the doppelganger was a force that witches didn't like. She was the key to Klaus becoming all mighty and that was an imbalance and witches (as I've said before) are all about balance. She would want me to use my powers so I'd get out of control, get obsessed and kill my sister. She wanted to complete her job from the other side. Which was a very "Katherine" move, but I admired it. On the other hand, Bree was a witch. She might have wanted to help her fellow witch out and just give me a few pointers even though dark magic didn't seem as fun as everyone made it sound. You know, all powerful and shit. No, to me, that sounded like a lot of work… But I guess I could manage… What was the worst that could happen? I kill Elena, then Damon kills me so I can join her and beg for her forgiveness in heaven? That didn't sound so bad… But then again, I would be heading to hell whilst she was taking shots with Jesus.

"Alright, I'm tired of walking so teach me how to zap to where I need to go," I agreed after long thought and all the scenarios that could happen. In any way, I could be fucked, so there was no holding back on my part. I was going to learn some dark magic and hopefully not kill anyone in the process.

"Good," Bree rejoiced, clapping her hands together. "I'm so excited for this project."

"What? I'm your little lab rat?"

"No, you're just my first time. And don't think of that in a dirty way," Bree said, but I still chuckled anyway. _Life isn't fun without a dirty mind… A wise man once told me that. That man was a twelve year old boy and he is the one who I'm about to meet up with. _"So, think of where you're about to go to. You're walking, but you don't actually want to, so you turn to the witchy-ness of yourself. Unlock that door. Think of all the places you could go to, but only focus on one; the old Lockwood property. Now, picture yourself in front of it and just wish for it."

I stopped thinking of everything around me and just focused on standing in front of the property I use to play around as a child. That was hard for me, since I had an overactive brain, but I still managed to do it. I was right, it did require some work, but I guess it was worth it. Bree's voice stopped guiding me and only my mind did. I didn't feel anything, so I just assumed it didn't work and gave up. When I opened my eyes, I was there. So was Bree.

"I did it," I mumbled to myself really thinking. "I freaking did it!"

"Yeah, you did," Bree agreed with a small smile on her face. "And you didn't even have a nose bleed like I thought you would. You are actually more experienced than I thought you would be."

"I actually never practiced any spells before, though."

Bree waved me off and said, "You're still a natural. So, call me when you need more help."

"Wait, you're just going to leave?"

"You know what to do. Plus, you want to have some alone time with your friend, right?" Bree guessed. She did have a point though.

"Alright, I guess you're right. I'll see you later? I want to learn more about this witchy powers, okay?" I clarified, thinking of all I could. _I wonder if I can float in a pink bubble…?_

Bree was suddenly gone from my line of sight. I looked around for her, but I found no one. I shrugged and I started down the stairs to the cellar. It was dark and smelled weird, but I continued down for Tyler's sake. I found him standing with _Caroline _(of all people *insert frowny face here*) looking at some crumpled, old looking book.

I asked, "What's going on here?" Caroline looked up with an alarmed look on her face and Tyler looked thankful. I decided to play it dumb and wonder what the hell was going on. I decided I didn't know that Caroline was a vampire and that I knew Tyler was a werewolf. He didn't need to know that I knew anything until he knew that I knew anything; if that made any sense.

"Thank god you're here," Tyler rejoiced, wrapping his arms around me. I looked at Caroline asking her "What is going on?" and she just shook her head. She had no idea what Tyler was up to either. "I needed you of all people to be here with me while I did this." Tyler looked really upset yet excited when he pulled back to look at me.

I had to play the part of dumb friend, so I questioned, "What are you talking about? Tyler, you are slightly scaring me." I made myself proud by acting an Oscar winning performance.

"I need you to promise me you're not going to tell anyone what I'm about to tell you," Tyler asked me staring me straight in the eyes. He looked terrified, but at the same time a little relieved. I knew he was going to admit he was a werewolf…and maybe that Caroline was a vampire. I nodded hesitantly. "No point of beating around the bush. I am a werewolf and Caroline is a vampire."

I stood there acting like I was in awe, while in reality I was a bit bored. I already knew all this information, but for the sake of Tyler, I had to pretend I knew nothing of a sort. I stuttered, "W-what? You a-are a what?"

"I'm a werewolf," Tyler repeated slowly. "But I'm not dangerous and neither is Caroline."

I took a step back from Tyler and held my head like I was thinking. I quickened my breath and closed my eyes. _Courtney, you deserve an award, I swear… _I could hear Tyler sigh many times in front of me but I didn't take any time outs to look at his facial expression. I imagined mine looked close to a frightened, yet confused friend; I hoped it did.

"Say something," Tyler pleaded softly.

I opened my mouth to pretend I was going to say something, but instead of words, all that came out was air. "Tyler," Caroline said, putting her hand on his shoulder, "I think she's in awe. Just give her a second." Caroline gave me a confused look asking me what I was doing _again, _but I didn't reply to her.

"Tyler, how long have you known?" I asked, trying to sound shaky. "Because if it was while I was gone, then I'd totally hate myself if I put you through that."

"No, I just found out myself," Tyler answered quickly. Then he shook his head. "I actually found out while you were away, but I didn't turn into a werewolf until I killed someone." My breath hitched when I heard the word _kill. _I had to pretend.

"Tyler, you…?"

"Not on purpose though," he replied quicker than before, "I didn't mean to hurt her; she just came at me. Becoming a werewolf is a curse; you have to trigger it. Killing someone is the way to cause the curse to come upon me. I'm a werewolf now, Courtney…"

Instead of running away, I went to hug Tyler and he hugged me back. It was a cute, tight hug that reminded me why we were friends. Tyler cared about me a lot and I cared about him a lot, too. We cared so much, no matter what we said could scare one another off. It was really beautiful and I cherished the relationship more than I let on.

"So, if you're a werewolf, shouldn't you have a lot more hair? And shouldn't you be running around rabid?"

Tyler chuckled, causing his whole body to rumble with laughter. "No, I'm not like that."

I concluded, "So, you're not like the douche bags in _Twilight _who turn into werewolves whenever they please and always threaten people with it?"

"No," Tyler answered, "I'm not like that."

"So, you'll keep your shirt on?"

"Yes. I never really got why they thought they could walk around being half-naked was okay," Tyler mumbled. "Anyway, I think that I turn on full moons."

"So, your curse is sticking strictly to lore?"

"Exactly," Caroline confirmed this time. I pretended to look confused again.

"Aren't vampires and werewolves…like sworn enemies or something?" I questioned, pointing at the two. I truly didn't get why they could stand each other because even in _Twilight and _the myths, werewolves had something against vampires. Werewolf bites could kill a vampire, but I still didn't get how that worked. Mason obviously knew that he could kill Katherine and that in everybody's books, they had to be enemies, yet he stuck around to get played.

"Yeah, but I don't hate her."

"And I don't hate him."

"Why, Caroline?" I asked. "Just a few days ago, you were telling me how much of a douche bag Tyler was."

Tyler looked at Caroline with wide eyes and Caroline laughed nervously. "I was just kidding," Caroline lied, trying to save her own ass. I tried not to laugh at the situation, but I failed myself and burst out laughing.

"'Oh, sweet Caroline, the good times never felt so good,'" I quoted for some reason and Caroline just scrunched her nose at me. I turned to Tyler. "So, why am I here? You're a werewolf, so you can easily tear apart someone like me, a human, but Caroline can protect herself because she's a vampire."

"You are my best friend," Tyler responded sounding sincere. I felt bad that I was lying to him and I _almost _wanted to spill it all to him. "I want you to be here at my worst because I know you'll accept me."

"Deep words, Ty," I commented, nodding, "but how do you know that I won't just run away yelling 'Tyler's a freak'? I mean, I could just spill your secret right now."

"You said it yourself. I can tear you limb from limb." My eyes widened at his answer and he just laughed. "But, you're also my best friend and my ex-girlfriend, so you care about me."

"You got that right, buddy." I playfully punched his arm lightly and laughed along with him. After leaving the cave with the notebook Mason left and the flash drive, I was pacing back and forth reading a book in Caroline's loft trying to find out any of Mason's entries during the time he was in the cellar. Tyler and Caroline were watching video diaries of the whole thing while I was doing the hard work. I threw the book to Caroline when Tyler paused the video. "Take that. I'm going to get a drink of water." I left them watching the video in the loft while I headed to the kitchen to get something to drink.

A few minutes after drinking, I started to hear Tyler scream. He finally realized how painful changing into a werewolf was going to be. I quickly put down the water and then I rushed over to Tyler to give him a hug and hold him.

"I can't do this…that…it's not right…" he sobbed, while holding on to me tightly. I felt so sorry for him, even though I knew he would hate that, but I couldn't help it. I would probably never know that kind of pain while werewolves had to experience it _every_ full moon. "Whatever that was, I can't go through that. It's just too much…"

"I don't think we should do this anymore," Caroline suggested, closing the book and putting it down on the table. Tyler let go of me to argue with Caroline.

"Why, what did you read?" Tyler demanded, picking up the book.

"Tyler, I… There's a reason it's called a 'curse,' Tyler."

Tyler opened to the page Caroline was reading and started reading out loud himself, "'Unimaginable pain, horrible experience, worst night of my life.'" He closed the book and sat down while drowning a shot. I just stood there almost crying while Caroline actually tried to comfort him.

Caroline consoles, "He explains how it speeds up over time, so if you can just get through this, maybe it won't be so bad."

"Why are you helping me?" Tyler asked, totally forgetting about the other problem.

"What do you mean?" Caroline laughed humorlessly.

"Why do you care? Courtney has been my best friend for the longest time, so I get why she's here. But why you? We've never been friends before."

Caroline tried, "What are you talking about? I've known you my entire life, Tyler."

"But we've never been close." _He has a point…_

"I really don't know. I just…I thought you needed it because you're going through this alone. Your uncle is gone, your mom doesn't know and all you have is Courtney." She sat down next to Tyler and I took a seat on the floor. "I was alone…when I turned. I didn't know what to do or how do control my urges. I wanted someone there, but I didn't have them. And I killed somebody. So, when you want someone there, I'll be there just like what I wanted." _Ooh, Caroline, now you're making me feel all bad that I wasn't around. Thanks, I kind of feel like shit now._

It was like they forgot I was there (probably because I was so quiet) and they started to lean in for a kiss. I was rooting for them all of a sudden even though it was awkward. Watching my best friend kiss my other best friend who happened to be my ex-boyfriend yet I was totally okay with it. Most people would have cleared their throat or said something but I just sat there waiting for the inevitable. Then the doorbell rang and I was angry. Their lips were so close, but someone just had to ruin it.

"I have to get it," Caroline said awkwardly, pointing to the door. Tyler nodded his head even more awkward and I huffed. They were moving at a slow pace. Caroline slowly walked to the door, and looked even more surprised when she saw who was standing there. I wondered myself what was going on. "Matt…" _Some shit is 'bout to go the fuck down!_

I was excited for the drama but at the same time I was loathing Matt because he had to ruin the perfect moment. Although, it would have been weird; Tyler's ex-girlfriend willingly watching him kiss another girl. Yeah, that wasn't something you heard every day. But I only wanted the best for Tyler and Caroline passed my test and was above my expectations. Caroline was good for Tyler.

Caroline just had to ruin the fun by closing the door and cutting off my only hearing source. I decided to talk to Tyler about the whole thing. "So…you two?"

"What?" Tyler asked incredulously. "There is nothing going on between us."

I raised my eyebrows. "Uh-huh…"

Tyler shook his head and got up from the spot on the couch and walked over to Caroline at the door. I knew that he was going to do something about Matt and I wanted to stick around. I suddenly got a call from someone.

_Elena calling._

"Whattup, sis?" I greeted weirdly.

"Stefan's locked in the tomb with Katherine?" _No one in this world can say hello, can they? But, what now?_

"I'll be right over." I hung up on Elena and I walked towards the door where the angst and jealousy was high. "Sorry, I'm leaving. Tyler, call me later about everything. Hi, Matt. Bye, Matt." I stepped around Matt and waved to them all goodbye. I walked far enough so they couldn't see me and I used my special powers.

I focused on where I wanted to go; to the entrance of the tomb. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and then seconds later, I opened them. I was still standing on the sidewalk a few feet from Caroline's house.

"Are you kidding me? Now you won't work," I mumbled violently to myself. I took another deep breath and thought of something else. _Take me to Stefan._

I opened my eyes and I was standing at the entrance but it was lit up with torches. Bonnie must have done the spell already. I called out at the front, "Stefan! Stefan!"

There was a sudden reply. "Elena, go away! I don't want you here."

"It's Courtney," I replied just as loud. Not even in the blink of an eye, _both _Katherine and Stefan were standing there in front of me. I gasped even though I should have been use to that kind of speed.

"Courtney…" Stefan breathed. I wanted to walk past the barrier and hug him, but I knew that Katherine would have something to say about it. "I didn't think you'd find out…"

"Find out that my friend is stuck in the tomb with a psychotic bitch? Of course I would find out…"

"You need to keep Elena away from here. You need to stay away too," Stefan instructed, almost pleading. "Do this for all of us."

I shook my head. "I don't care if I have to do it myself. I'll find a way to get you out, Stefan. You know I hate cliché, but I'll get you out if it's the last thing I do."

**Alright! Hi, guys. Sorry it took so long. At the end I got kind of sloppy, but I'm really not supposed to be on my computer right now, so I had to do this all in secret. Anyway, I hoped you liked it!**

**Klausisgod4- Stefan and Courtney… I just really like them together because it's secretive. I'm sorry if you don't really like it, but I love it! They're secretive, so it won't be many moments of them anyway and Klaus is endgame. I think Courtney is badass too, so we're kind of on the same page.**

**Mari Wollsch- I'm sorry that you hate Kol, but I absolutely love him! He's just so… There's not even words to describe him. Lucky for you, Kol is a brief chapter since he leaves when he comes back and then dies, so… Although, Courtney does see him a few times when he's dead as a ghost. But he won't really be in the story that much.**

**Okay, bye guys! Hopefully I can update more!**

**katherineismikaelson**


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

I woke up with a frown on my face and a dead Vicki sitting on my bed. At first she scared me, but then I took a breath and got use to her presence. She wasn't even looking at me; she was staring out the window to whatever and had her legs crossed with her arms folded in her lap. She looked like she was thinking very deeply about something as I tried to sit up in my bed; laying my back on the bedpost.

"Vicki, what are you doing here?" I asked softly and quietly. Vicki took a deep breath and turned to look at me. She looked troubled and scared about something. She didn't answer, so I repeated a little harsher, "What are you doing here?"

"I miss him...Matty. I want to talk to him and touch him, but when I say something, he doesn't respond and when I try to touch him, my hand goes right through him," Vicki said, mournfully, "And I can't seem to stay with him for more than five minutes. I don't want to be dead… I want to be alive and I want to be next to him."

"Vicki, I don't want you dead either," I told her with tears burning in my eyes. Vicki sniffed and wiped a tear running down her cheek. "I think you deserve to be alive and well. I think you deserve to be human right next to Matt and marrying Tyler so you guys can have a happy life. You deserve so much more, Vicki."

She just laughed. Her giggled turned into a long chuckle which turned to a big laugh. I was confused. _What is she laughing about? What is so funny about what I just said?_ Then after her long laughs, she finally cleared up the confusion for me. "I never really did get why you were okay with me, a whore, to date your ex and then we become best friends and yet you still let me date him. What is that all about?"

I laughed too. "I want the best for Tyler; he deserves it. I just wanted good enough to handle his awesomeness. But you, Vicki, are. And I wish he saw that. I will admit, sometimes I got jealous when he kissed you in front of me, but I knew that you guys really did deserve each other."

"Courtney," Vicki started, shaking her head with a small smile, "You are too good for me. You are too good to be my friend, yet you stuck around to deal with my drug problems and help me even though most thought I was a lost cause. I was going in the direction of my mother, and as much as I love her, I didn't want to be her."

I put my hand on hers and said, "That's what friends do. Especially if you can see the good in them no one else could see." Vicki smile grew, but not by much. "But you do need to know, I was tired of you bringing my brother into it. Jeremy already had enough going on; he didn't need to worry about ODing with you while having stoner sex or something."

Vicki burst out laughing which caused me to follow her actions. "Yeah, I am sorry about that," she apologized between breaths. "I didn't mean to do that, but he just understood me in ways that Tyler didn't. And he treated me better than Tyler."

"You were two years older than him," I pointed out. "That's nasty."

This time she didn't laugh; her smile dropped from her face and she turned away from me. Our conversation had just gone awry. "And I wish I told him how much I appreciated him. And how sorry I am for trying to kill him. Tell him, won't you?"

"Of course," I promised nodding. She was suddenly gone and I sighed. "I'll miss you too."

I got up from the bed and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like I just woke up; which I did, in short shorts and a tank top. There was nothing really that was different from last night except that my raven necklace was turned backwards. I had a brief memory of when I opened the package to see what was in it and the way I felt when I did. It was pure bliss and happiness. I knew that they hadn't forgotten me at all.

I looked around the room and wondered what was really going on. It was too quiet… Usually, Elena would be in my room talking about something or ranting on about Stefan being stuck in the tomb with Katherine. Speaking of that, how was I going to get Katherine and Stefan out? It was obvious that Bonnie couldn't perform the spell, but I expected that because she needed her Grams the first time. It wasn't like I expected her to perform it alone. I wondered if I could do it…? I mean, I did have more power than the average witch and maybe, just maybe there was a chance in hell that I could rescue Stefan, a friend/not-supposed-to-be lover and my mother, Katerina She's-A-Bitch Petrova. It was really a long shot, but if I had help from someone...someone who had answers, then maybe I could have a chance at saving two people that were really important in my life. So I decided to call out to her.

"Bree, I could really use some guidance here…" I called out, not too loud but not as quiet as I was talking to Vicki before. "I have a question and I really need an answer." I walked around the room, waiting for her to appear. At one point, I looked up to the ceiling and asked for her.

"I was wondering when you'd call," a voice said smugly behind me. I jumped and turned around to see Bree leaning on the wall next to my bed. I rolled my eyes. "It really did take you long enough. I expected to hear something about it last night."

"I was tired last night. Now, can you help me?"

"That depends; what do you want?" Bree asked.

I answered, "I want you to show me how to open the tomb."

"I thought you'd ask that," she said, smiling. "I'll help you. Only because I like you. So, the thing is, I've never tried that before. I don't have my grimoire with me, so you have to go get it. It's in the back of my bar, lying under some meats in the freezer. I know no one's touched it, but I don't know if it hasn't frozen. In there, you'll find a little bit of dark magic. There's really not a lot of spells, but I have a feeling that you'll catch on pretty quickly."

"Thank you," I whispered and I walked to my closet to get some clothes on. "I really don't know how to do this and since Bonnie doesn't do the dark magic crap, I have to learn on my own. At least I have a little help from you. Thank you, Bree. I have a few questions, too." I pulled out a leather skirt I haven't worn in a long time and some polka-dotted heels; black and white. I continued to look for a shirt as I asked, "Since I'm the Assassin, do I get special powers? Do I get to be invisible? Or do I get to fly? Something aside from having witch powers?"

Bree took a moment to think about what I asked. "I think you'd get supernatural powers like vampires. Speed, super hearing, super strength; basically everything they have, but without the blood drinking," Bree explained.

"What about compulsion?"

"Nope."

"What about that thing you used on me in the bathroom?" I inquired and finally finding a shirt. It was a crop top; black silk undershirt with a white sheer fabric with small hearts littered all across it. I decided that the outfit would look cute together, so I put them on my bed and waited for Bree to answer.

She looked at me hesitantly. "Well, that is something a little advanced. I don't know if you can learn it in time."

"Is it exactly like compulsion, except with dark magic?" I questioned, walking closer to her. "Do I just believe what I want them to believe and just say a few words after?"

"Basically," Bree agreed, nodding her head.

"Great!" I chirped. "Then I'll be expecting you to teach me that. In the meantime, you can go so I can get dressed." Bree rolled her eyes but she disappeared in the middle of the room and I was alone. _I wonder if that's how it looks like when I just disappear like that. Oh, man, if I can do that, I wonder what else I can do…_

I got on the clothes and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like the cool girl I was and I was proud. All I needed to do was to figure out where Bree's grimoire was, learn the spell, perform the spell and then Katherine and Stefan would be out. Stefan and I could finish that shower we had planned and Katherine and I could continue our overall plan. This was just a minor setback; we would get out of it quickly.

I walked out my room and into Elena's. Bonnie was sitting on her bed and Elena was looking at the moonstone. They both turned to look at me; both of their eyes looked me up and down like they were judging. I restrained myself and didn't roll my eyes at the both of their Barbie attitudes. "What are we talking about?"

"The moonstone," Elena quickly answered and then turned back to Bonnie. "Klaus will become vengeful. I'm not willing to risk all your lives just for mine." I took a seat next to Bonnie on Elena's bed.

"That's if he finds out," Bonnie tried, but Elena shakes her head. They were fighting about the moonstone, really? All they needed to do was nothing and they'd be perfectly fine. They just needed to let Katherine and me to execute our plan.

"Stefan is locked in a tomb with Katherine. Can't this wait, Bonnie?" Elena whined, pointing to a random spot out the window, but generally in the tomb's direction. I agreed with her. I wanted to get them out too, but the moonstone was pretty important and I needed to know Bonnie's plan so I could ruin it.

Bonnie replied back, "Well, Stefan wants me to keep all of my attention on this."

"Then don't listen to him. Stefan thinks he's trying to protect me, but in real life, he's wrong."

"No, Elena. I'm taking Stefan's side in this one; I'm not going to let you get sacrificed in some creepy ritual." _Well, Bons, I am. So just fuck off the topic and listen to your best friend. She's trying to save her ex and I agree with her. I need to get Katherine out of there or I'mma lose my shit._ Bonnie grabbed the moonstone from Elena's open hand; not forcefully, but more of a demanding kind of way.

Jeremy suddenly walks in the room, asking, "What's going on here?"

"Nothing," Bonnie answered, giving Elena a pointed look. She turned back and put the moonstone in her things and she looked at Jeremy. Bonnie didn't even manage to give him a smile. "I need coffee." Bonnie got up from the bed and strolled right past Jeremy at the door. Jeremy sighed and walked closer to Elena and I. Like always, I was ignored next to Elena. I at least though when I was with Jeremy and Elena, I'd be noticed like the old days, but nowadays, it's just about Elena and how she's doing. Sure, she was going to get sacrificed for a ritual, but my supernatural duty was to kill my twin that I'd known my whole life and loved to absolute bits, but no one wanted to check up on me.

"Why are you on a suicide mission?" _Jeremy, I have to agree with you there, even though my plan is that she is._

"I'm not. I just want to make sure none of you get hurt for me," Elena responded. Then she turned to me and gave me some attention. "Especially you. I know you need to kill me and I'd rather have some ritual kill me and not my own sister. You see what I'm getting at?"

"Elena, what you need to understand is that I don't want to kill you," I told her with a tone like I was explaining 7th grade math to a high schooler. "I feel perfectly fine around you, okay? You can stop being so self-centered."

"But I'm not! What if you do attack me out of the blue? You can't control it, really. What if Stefan or Damon tries to protect me and end up killing you in the end?"

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Elena, what you need to understand is that you're not the only one they love. I know they wouldn't kill me; not for something like that. Of course they'd tie me up or keep me away from you, but death seems a bit much." But Elena was right. They loved Elena so much more than me and I had a feeling that they would kill me just to protect her.

"So, getting Klaus the moonstone and getting yourself killed is okay?" Jeremy retorted back for me and Elena rolled her eyes. I was surprised by her attitude. Usually, my big sister wasn't like that. It was mostly me who would always have that kind of attitude that would get me in so much trouble. Jeremy slowly got his way out of the room and I turned to Elena.

"'Lena, we love you so much. Don't do something stupid," I advised and patted her on the back. There was nothing more I could say to her; I only hoped she was smart enough to take my advice and just go with it. We all wanted to protect her here, but she was getting on my nerves and if she would just be ignorant for once, then I could save her ass and my mother's.

I walked out of her room and into mine. I was going on a little trip to Georgia to get a grimoire that is much needed. I made sure there was no one coming to my room; I just heard Bonnie, Elena and Jeremy arguing with each other in the staircase. I closed my eyes and I thought of the bar, where I first met Bree and how much I needed that grimoire. When I opened my eyes, I was standing in an empty room with chairs on top of tables and no one behind the bar. I had a feeling that it was going to go out of business when she died.

"It just kills me to see it this way…" Bree's voice moped behind me. "The way it's so empty and so lifeless."

"Maybe because you are," I retorted softly, trying not to sound mean. I knew that she loved this bar and I hadn't even known her that long. When I first met her in my dreams, I just could tell her fondness of this place. Although, I never really got to come here, I was impressed. I imagined what it would be like when there was people and music and drinks. It had to have been so alive and electric.

"I know… I miss life," Bree whispered, thinking to herself. Damon killed her for no reason at all, and I was starting to get more and more angry at him for doing that to her. She deserved life no matter what she did to him.

I tried to change the subject. "So, where is the grimoire again?"

"In the freezer," Bree answered, making no effort to show me. I got to the other side of the bar and opened the door to the freezer. It wasn't cold, just like I had expected since the bills weren't getting paid, but there was this sense of loss coming from the air in the now unused freezer. "You'll find it under some meat towards the back. That's if they didn't clean it out already."

I continued to walk in the freezer and saw that most of the food and drinks were still lying of shelves. I continued to the back just like Bree said and found some meat pilled on many shelves. Her directions weren't any good if I didn't know which shelf.

"Bree, you think you can be a little more specific?" I called out. I looked through the shelves, still trying to find the hidden book, but found nothing.

"Don't look with your eyes, but with your mind," she replied vaguely.

I scoffed. "What are you talking about? You're Bree, not freaking Yoda." I turned around to see no one in the bar with me; I was alone. She left me alone there and I had to find it myself just with some crappy directions and a very vague riddle. That wasn't going to help me find jack squat. "Thanks, Bree, you are real help."

I whimpered, but continued to look for the grimoire. After ten minutes of absolutely nothing at all, I groaned very loudly. No one replied like I thought they would, so apparently, I was completely on my own.

Court, here's an idea! Why don't you actually listen to the riddle she gave you.

_And what is that going to help, Courtney?_

_I don't know? Maybe help you find the book… But that's just an idea._

_You really are sarcastic, aren't you?_

_Bitch, I am you._

_Shut up, Courtney and just find the damn grimoire. Look with your mind, not your eyes._

What is that supposed to mean? I screamed to myself. I didn't answer myself because I didn't know. Bree had some shady advice that no even the intelligent side of me could figure out. She really was sad to the core…she couldn't even help her favorite prodigy in the right way.

I continued to look longer and still found nothing. When I realized I wasn't finding what I wanted anytime soon, I sat down on a random wall in the back, my hands on my head and my knees folded.

"Seriously? You couldn't just follow that one hint?" Bree appeared at the entrance of the freezer. She slapped her feet down hard on the ground as she walked my way to the meat in the back of the freezer to get the grimoire. "You couldn't just follow along? We have some serious work to do." When she stepped out of the way of the meat, there was suddenly a book under piles, showing clearly. I jumped up from my position and went to get the book.

"Okay, your directions weren't as easy as you thought. They were confusing and stupid," I confessed as I picked up the old book. It was brown and weathered, just like I expected to be. It was actually better than I expected it to be, but still looked like it was passed down through generations.

"Shut up." So, let's get to the forest." I closed my eyes and pictured a random destination with dirt on the ground and the trees all around me. I could hear the animals talking to each other and the water rushing down the stream. When I opened my eyes, it was all there to take in.

"Here you go." Bree handed me the big, old book and I blew off the dust. It looked like I expected it to look like. It wasn't anything special but at the same time, I felt happy to hold the heavy thing in my hands. "Now, I think we should start out with a simple spell first, do you agree?"

"Sure," I agreed hastily, "Whatever I can do to get Stefan out."

Bree nodded. "Alright, let's get started." I sat on the ground right where I was sitting and cracked open the book. Bree sat next to me and we looked through the book. Just flipping through the pages, I couldn't understand any of what was written; it looked to be written in Latin or something. I was confused, but when I started to actually look at the pages, I could make out a little of it. It was like looking at random shapes put together on a card and then taking the time to actually try and figure out what's the real picture.

"Do you know what any of it says?" Bree questioned, staring at me staring at the pages.

"Kind of…" I answered back, quietly. She didn't say anything else; she just let me continue to look through the pages. It wasn't until I got about halfway through the book when I started to feel a little more comfortable.

"Ah, you've found the dark magic section," Bree concluded, realizing what I was feeling. "I had a feeling you would love that."

"Why am I like this?" I asked, "Why am I drawn to dark magic?"

"I think it's because you were created by dark magic," Bree answered, thinking herself. I guess it kind of made sense. "You were created to kill the doppelganger. You have powers like witches, but the immortality like a vampire. Your sole purpose is to kill someone and that's it. You weren't born like anyone else; you were created. You are basically just a service. You can't die until the doppelganger dies and when she does, you will cease to exist. You'll die, Courtney. When Elena dies, so do you."

I was speechless. It all made sense really, but I was still jealous. Once again, Elena got the attention in this situation. I always had to be the different one and everyone would always worry about Elena first. _I'm not even supposed to be real… Courtney, you have reached maximum freak._

"Okay, well, let's learn some magic," I changed the subject. Bree realized how bad I was feeling and went along with it. "So what am I learning first?"

"I think we should start out with something simple and really basic. Like a fire starting spell. Now, even traditional magic can do this, but you, my friend, can control the fire with dark magic."

"Can't you do that with traditional magic too?"

"I mean, you can literally shoot fire out of your hands and sometimes, you can set people on fire," Bree cleared up. My eyes widened at the thought. _That will definitely come in handy the next time I see Klaus._

"Okay, but what about this other spell? I saw Bonnie, my friend, doing it to Stefan, a vampire, the night he attacked me. I could hear the eerie sound of the spell and he was clutching his head in pain."

Bree took a second to think. I wanted to learn that for the times Damon got on my nerves or if we needed to go to war or something. It made me think of all the times I could have used it. She finally replied, "Bonnie, your friend, was giving him an aneurism. He has supernatural healing so she just repeats the action over and over again. That surprises me, actually."

I looked quizzical. "Why?"

"Because that is a dark magic spell." _Okay, that is a bit surprising. I expected Bonnie to be the more traditional type of person since her Grams was..._

"Can I still learn it?"

"Yes," Bree confirmed, "but you'll have to learn it later. It's a complicated spell. Anyway, the fire spell; put down the book and stand up." I did as she requested. Bree stood in front of me. "Now, think of starting a fire right over there. Picture the image in your head just like the transportation spell. Picture it and then repeat after me; Ignis starter."

I pictured the fire starting on the ground, then climbing up the tree. I saw the image over and over in my head as I chanted, "Ignis starter." I pictured and chanted all at the same time until I heard Bree say something.

"You've done it!"

I opened my eyes and saw the orange flames just barely licking the tree. I tried to picture the flames going up the tree and suddenly they did. I wished that nothing burned and nothing did. I was completely controlling the fire.

"How are you doing that?" Bree wondered with complete awe in her voice.

"Doing what?"

"It's not burning anything. It's not spreading anywhere," she stated, "How are you doing that?"

I shrugged. I realized my hands were still pointed out towards the fire, so I pulled them back to my body. I responded, still staring at the fire, "I don't know. I just don't want it to burn the trees so it doesn't. I don't want it to spread anywhere else in the forest, so I guess it just doesn't." Bree stared at me with even more awe than I heard in her voice.

"I'd never been able to do that," she said to me. "You are all kinds of amazing, girl. You know that?"

"Well, thank you, Bree." My ego just boosted up a bit.

"Now, kill the fire. Imagine it burning out or just stopping altogether," Bree instructed.

I thought of the fire not existing at all on the ground and tree and suddenly, it was gone. Bree laughed almost like a maniac and gave me a hug. "You really are great at this, Courtney! No one has ever been able to do it like you do. Alright, practice it again."

After six more times of creating and stopping fires, I was a pro at making them. I even learned how to shoot it out the palm of my hand, but it did make me dizzy, so Bree and I both decided that it was a little much for me to be trying at first. We decided to move on to water, after. I started a fire and Bree showed me how to use water to put it out from the stream that was close to us. I was getting good with the whole earth thing.

Bree stopped for a second. "I wonder…?"

I was confused at her thought. I was a great witch already; there was nothing to wonder about that. Bree suddenly was positioning me to kneel and touch the ground with my hand. "What are you doing?"

"Some witches, very few, can actually channel their power through the earth," she answered, "Since you're so good with fire and water spells, I was just wondering if you could do that."

"Okay, I see where you're going with this." It surprised me that she thought I was that special, but at the same time I felt incredible. Someone actually believed in me and didn't think that my actions were a total screw ups. Plus, if there was anything to make me special and better than my twin, I was going for it. I loved Elena, but I had to admit, being better than her was just about my goal in life. I continued, "So how do I do it?"

"I don't know," Bree responded and I sighed. Well, that's just amazing! "I've never met a witch that can do it. I've actually never had anyone really confirm it. It's just rumors around the bar sometimes that catch my attention and that was one of them." I rolled my eyes and Bree suggested, "I guess that you just think of the earth's power flowing through you and it replenishes you. Think of it giving you more power?"

"Okay…" I closed my eyes and I thought of the ground beneath me. I thought of the sour sweet smell of the forest and the feel of the rocks and sticks and dirt under my feet. I imagined the sound of the sticks crunching when too much pressure is applied and the rushing of the water. I thought of everything I loved about the outdoors and I suddenly felt like there was nothing that could stop me. The feeling running up my arm was something I felt when I kissed Stefan (and Klaus, sadly); ultimate. I felt unstoppable and not as insecure as I was around Elena. I felt like I was the better twin and that I didn't need someone to care about me if I was this powerful. The feeling was addicting.

"So, how do you feel?" Bree asked after moments of quiet.

I stood up from my position. "I feel like I'm on top of the world." Bree laughed and clapped her hands together.

"I finally met a witch that is awesome!" _Bree saying 'awesome'? Damn, I must be really splendid if I made someone as sophisticated and experienced as Bree say 'awesome.'_ "Courtney Gilbert, give me a hug." I accepted her request and I hugged her when she opened her arms for me. Nothing could stop the great infinite feeling I was feeling. When Bree and I parted, she said, "I guess we need to wrap up now."

I looked up at the sky and saw that there wasn't really late, so I argued, "Nope, we still got time."

"Okay, now I think it's time that we stop practicing," I conclude after growing another tree right next to the other one I grew. Bree and I had been experimenting with my powers the whole time we were next to each other. I even learned a few tricks from her book and I was ready to kick ass. The only thing that was getting on my nerves was that I couldn't perform any traditional magic. All I could do was dark magic and the dark magic spells that were almost like the traditional. Bree explained to me because I was created from dark magic again. Basically, my life was based on dark magic. She explained to me how witches usually called it Expression and how that was just the 'nice' word for it.

"Yeah, the moon is almost at its full peak," Bree agreed, causing me to remember.

"Full moon… Shit," I cursed, rushing to get the book up from the ground. I forgot that I had to be at the Lockwood's cellar to support Tyler as he changed. I was such a bad friend. Courtney, here you are being happy while Tyler is probably in pain changing. "Bree, we are coming back to this same spot tomorrow. Right now, I need to go see a friend."

"Alright, but be careful around the werewolf," Bree advised. I turned around to face her with suspicion on my face.

"How did you know I was going to see my werewolf friend?" I interrogated.

Bree smiled deviously like Katherine and shrugged. "Ghost intuition." Bree was suddenly gone before I could say anything to her. Even that made me smile a bit. So, where do I hide this? I had to think of somewhere that no one would ever think of going and one place came to mind. I closed my eyes, thought of the place and when I opened them again, I was standing at the old Fell's church, just like I wanted.

Quickly, I hid the big book under a few chairs and then I was off to the Lockwood cellar. As I stood in front of the entrance, I could hear Tyler screaming all the way from there. Just hearing his yells made me cringe. I dashed down the stairs and I found Caroline trying to comfort the chained Tyler. He was lying on his stomach, sweaty and shirtless while Caroline was crouched beside him trying to make him feel better about the pain.

Seeing him like that was literally killing me. My heart was literally hurting for him. Like he was, I felt like it was beating quickly in chains and each beat, the chains tightened. "Tyler…" I whimpered, making them both turn to me. I ignored all reason and rushed to the changing werewolf.

"Where have…you been?" Tyler choked out as I kneeled beside Caroline. I put my hand out to touch his face and surprisingly, he didn't cower away from it.

"I wish I got here earlier," I told him, avoiding the question. His groan made me answer the question. "I was… busy with something."

"Too busy not to answer your phone?" Caroline snapped at me. I couldn't really blame her; she had a crush on Tyler and I wasn't there to support him which hurt him which hurt her to see him hurt. It was all a chain reaction. And I wished that I took my phone with me when I went to the forest.

"Tyler, I am so sorry for not being there, but I'm here now."

"I hate to say it, but you both need to leave." The veins in his head popped out as he screamed again in pain. I looked away so I didn't have to see my best friend in pain. _Why does turning into a werewolf always have to be so painful? I can't imagine the pain Tyler is going through right now… Why can't it be all easy like they show in Twilight? Speaking of Twilight, Stephanie Meyer was way off on everything._

I shook my head and denied, "No, not even if you paid me."

"I'm not leaving either," Caroline agreed.

"You need to. I could hurt—" Tyler suddenly cried out in pain and Caroline pulled me back with her vampire speed away from Tyler. We both watched as his arm went back at an unnatural angle and back again. His cries intensified as his bones broke and as we listened to the crack of them. "Courtney, it hurts so much! It hurts so much!"

"Ty, I know, I know," I tried to reassure, "but I need you to breathe in and out. I need you to think of something besides the pain. Think of her…" I suggested, even though it hurt me to say it. "Vicki; she always brings you back."

Tyler's screams stopped for a second, but suddenly his bones cracked again. I yelled out to Caroline, "Do something!"

"What do you want me to do?" Caroline yelled back over Tyler's screams. "I can't do anything!"

"Give him your blood, or something."

"I can't! It won't help him because he has to change into a werewolf!"

"Goddamn you, Damon!" I cursed, "Why did you have to do that?" Tyler looked confused, but Caroline knew what I was talking about. Mason's death. If Damon wouldn't have killed him, Mason could be there for Tyler as he took his first change.

Tyler's screams stopped and I rushed over to him. "Please, guys, go! I don't want to hurt you."

"Tyler, never. I'm going to be there for you." Caroline hugged Tyler as he lie on the ground, not in as much pain. I smiled at them together, even though it wasn't a smiling situation. I was Tyler's ex-girlfriend, but seeing him happy was all I ever wanted. Vicki was my best friend and Tyler cheated on me with her, but no matter what, seeing him happy with her made my day sometimes. Now, seeing Tyler in the painful situation and Caroline comforting him? It was making me happier by the second.

Tyler said nothing to argue with us anymore after that. Caroline just hugged him from behind and he stayed lying on that floor. I took a seat on the steps and waited for the inevitable. Nothing happened for the longest time, but then he started to groan again.

"Tyler, it's okay," Caroline tried to reassure, "You'll get through this. We'll all get through this together. Remember, Courtney's here for you. I'm here for you. Fight through it all, okay?"

I had a feeling that talking to him wasn't going to cut it anymore. It was about time for him to start actually changing and we needed to get out. I still didn't want to leave until I absolutely had to when the time came.

"Leave," Tyler demanded, gasping again.

"No."

"Go, please! I don't want to hurt you."

"No, not yet," Caroline denied again and I agreed with her. "I'm right here."

Tyler's arm suddenly went at a weird angle again and Caroline jumped back. I tried to look away from the scene, but my eyes kept wandering back to my sweaty best friend. He screamed again as his body started to change. Caroline stared at his face with fear and I guessed that his eyes had changed colors or something.

Tyler growled and Caroline grabbed me. We were behind the steps and Caroline was suddenly locking the gate. It all happened so fast, but I was kind of used to the vampire speed. I did have it at one time. Tyler growled and barked at her as she whimpered and tied the chains to close the gate. From there, I could see what Caroline was staring at a few seconds ago. His eyes had changed to a luminescent yellow and he had grown fangs. The only thing that was missing was the veins under his eyes, but he basically looked like a vampire. Caroline whimpered when he snapped his jaw at her.

I was just in complete awe. I didn't expect it to be that way._ I don't really know what I was expecting, but this isn't it. Tyler just needs to calm down and he needs to think of happy things. Happy thoughts…happy thoughts._

Tyler wasn't at the gate for a second. He was pulling at the chain that was restricting him.

"Caroline, we need to get out of here," I urged her as I stared at Tyler pulling at the chain. I heard the snap of the thing and that really woke me up. "NOW!" I couldn't die until Elena was dead and even though Caroline was a vampire, I heard that one bite from a werewolf was lethal to a vampire. I wasn't about to watch one of my best friends kill another. Yeah, that wasn't on my 'To-do' list. I couldn't say that I was scared for me; I was scared for the little blonde vampire.

Tyler jumped at the gate right as Caroline finished. Even in my state, I jumped at the sudden movement. As Tyler clawed at the gate, Caroline stared at him. "I'm sorry," she whispered and I pulled at her arm.

She walked back with me and when we got out, I closed the door so quickly, I surprised myself. I turned to Caroline who was crying so much tears, I would think she was crying Justin Timberlake a river. I gave her a hug and she cried on my shoulder. I really didn't think of the running mascara or all the makeup that might get on my shirt as I comforted her, but I did think of all the ruined shirts that might come in the future if we didn't get farther away.

"Caroline, we need to get farther," I told her as she cried. But instead of listening to me, she fell in my arms, bringing me down with her. _Seriously, Caroline, stop crying like a little bitch._ "Care, no!" She crawled out of my arms because she knew that I wasn't going to let her stay and leaned on the door for support. I tried and tried to get her to move from her spot, but she did nothing but cry. "Fine, if you can't stop 'em, join 'em." I sat on the opposite wall of Caroline and listened to her cries and Tyler's screams.

_Well, fuck, I'll have to deal with hearing him every full moon. I can't even bare to imagine the immense pain that would take for every month for the rest of his life. It's like every bone in his body breaking. Thank you lord for making me a creation; not a werewolf._

After sitting there for quite some time, listening to Tyler scream, the noise stopped. I was surprised that it all happened that quickly. I expected it to last the whole night. _Unless he isn't human anymore and is just a werewolf…_

Caroline stopped her whining and got up from her spot to open the door. "Caroline Forbes," I warned in a very serious tone, "Don't you dare open that door." Again, Caroline ignored me so I had to get physical. Sadly, her vampire strength beat my witch strength so I was pretty much out of luck.

Before she could actually open the door all the way, a strong force bashed on the door and Caroline went straight to stop it from opening. What did I fucking tell you, Caroline? I jumped back at the sight and a few tears slipped out even more. My face was already caked with runny mascara, I didn't really need any more.

"Caroline, don't let him get through!" I yelled. She tried as hard as she could, but with each blow, I could tell that it was getting stronger. "Caroline, on the count of three, you run and I'll be right behind you."

"What are you talking about?" she replied, rejecting my requests again.

"Just do it if you want to save yourself." This time, she didn't argue anymore. All she did was run and I thought of a fire starting right in front of the doorway. I thought of the flames so high, that I couldn't see on the other side of them. The door burst open and so did the flames. After that, I ran like hell. Up the stair and through the woods to Caroline I went. She grabbed my hand and with her vampire speed, she ran us farther in the forest, away from Tyler.

"Caroline, what did I tell you?" I gasped as we stopped at a tree. "I told you NOT to open the door and what do you do? You—"

"I know!" Caroline interrupted, breathing heavily too. "I opened the damn door! I know."

"You are such a blonde." I shook my head, but I was all serious. She seriously was really stubborn and dumb. Not that I had anything against blondes, but I had to admit, a girl like Caroline wasn't always the brightest.

"I'm sorry, okay? I thought that it had stopped and that he was better or something. I didn't expect him to come snarling at me, trying to kill us."

"Caroline, he growled at you and tried to kill you through the gate. You think after ten minutes of being alone, he would suddenly have some moment of recognition and realize we're friends, not foes?" I asked sarcastically and Caroline looked away guiltily. "No, you dipshit! He stopped screaming because he turned into a werewolf. And you know what you did? You made the dumbass move TO OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!"

"I'M SORRY!" she yelled back, throwing her hands up in the air. "We can't focus on arguing. We need to get away, but not far enough where we can't find Tyler." We stopped and took a second to listen to the things around us. I heard nothing; no growls or screams. Maybe Tyler was done with the whole werewolf thing.

Like Caroline, I walked (fast walked) back to the cellar and slowly opened the door. Caroline followed behind me timidly, learning her lesson from the last time. "Tyler?" I called out, testing out my theory.

"Courtney?" someone called back.

"Ty!" I screamed, and I opened the door to see a busted gate, lying on its side and chains literally thrown everywhere. I jumped over it all and ran to Tyler who was curled up in a ball in the corner. He was sweaty and naked, but I didn't care. "Tyler, you made through it." Caroline came over with a blanket and I moved out of the way for her.

Caroline whispered to him, "You're okay, you made it. You didn't get out. You're okay."

"No, I'm not," Tyler replied. I heard him cry and Caroline latched tighter on him. I decided to step back and let Caroline take control this time. Plus, Tyler probably didn't want an ex to comfort him; probably a future love interest would be better. Like most of the night, I sat there listening to Tyler and Caroline cry with each other as I thought about my life.

_Courtney, you've been through so much and I have a feeling you'll be through more. You're a trooper._

"I think I need to get you home," Caroline finally said to Tyler.

"Courtney, go home," Tyler requested. "I keep you out here long enough. Elena's probably worried."

"No, it's okay. I can—"

Caroline interrupted me again, "I've got him." I nodded and went over to hug him. Tyler shook his head.

"I'm all sweaty and I'm naked. You can hug me tomorrow," Tyler said and I agreed by nodding. I didn't really leave anything but I picked up a lantern to light my way. It was cute that Caroline was going to say for Tyler.

"Make sure Tyler's the only one whose naked, you two," I advised playfully and I could already hear their faces blush. "Call me and this time, I'll answer." I didn't expect them to reply back, so I just walked out the cellar as soon as I finished what I had to say.

When I got out, I closed my eyes and imagined myself in front of my door on the porch. Of course I set the lantern down in the forest randomly. I opened my eyes to find myself on the porch of my house. I sighed and opened the door. I decided to wash my face in the kitchen sink instead of my own up in my room. I finished and took off my heels before walking up the stairs. I walked past Elena's room and I heard two voices talking. Instead of minding my own business, I opened the door to Elena and Stefan kissing.

Believe me, I was happy that Stefan was out of the tomb, but I wasn't happy to see that Stefan went right back to Elena. "Stefan," I greeted slowly when they turned to look at me. Stefan's smile dropped and he awkwardly waved at me. "You're back. Great." I gave him a thumbs up. "Okay, bye." I suddenly closed the door as quickly as I opened it and dashed to my room.

Before I could do anything the tears were already rushing down my face. I fell onto my bed and said to myself, "Of course. Everyone loves Elena."

**Hey guys! So, I'm sorry about how long it took me to update, it's just that I was grounded so I didn't get to update. So, sorry about that. And I'm still a little freaked out by the Teen Wolf episode I saw yesterday and I was surprised. Anyway, I hope I'll have more for you guys sooner.**

**katherineismikaelson**


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

"So, tell me why the great Stefan Salvatore is out, but you aren't?" I called out as I waltzed into the tomb. I found Katherine sitting on a rock looking like a total freak. Her pale skin and bloodshot eyes told me that she really needed the blood I brought.

"Because the asshole Elijah Mikaelson compelled me to stay in here," Katherine answered with her attitude. "So, basically, I can never get out of this place." I laughed at her situation and she groaned.

"Alright, so your situation is pretty much shit, but I'll find a way to get you out of here," I promised causing Katherine to at least give me a small smile. I sighed and held out the blood bag. "In the meantime, here's a blood bag for you." Katherine was suddenly snatching the blood out of my hand and drinking it like a mad woman. _I would hate to be in her situation really. Even though she does deserve this all. _"It took me a very flirty conversation to get that, so conserve it." Apparently I warned her too late because by the time I was done with my sentence, she was done with the bag.

"Oops," she apologized sarcastically. "So, how do you plan to break me out?"

As I sat down, I answered, "Well, I have a feeling that we're going to have to break his compulsion."

"And how do you expect to do that?"

"More compulsion." Katherine laughed at my answer. "While training with Bree, our dead witch, I learned—"

"You what?" Katherine asked, interrupting me. It felt like people just loved to interrupt me at that point and time in my life. "Bree?"

I snapped back, "Okay, you need to know, since I died—because you killed me—I can see dead people. I thought we went through this already. Anyway, I was training with her, and we found out that I'm more powerful than your average witch so like my ancestors before me, I'm going to create a compulsion spell."

At first, Katherine didn't say anything. I was worried she desiccated on me even though she literally just had blood, but then she burst out laughing. "You want to what? Create a spell?" _Katerina, you really are a bitch._ "I believe in my daughter and I'll support you, but creating a spell? Do you even know where to start?"

"Okay, Katherine, you need to understand that you're a bitch, first of all," I listed off, not even breaking character, "Second, I can channel the power of the earth, you motherfucker. I'm powerful and third of all, I have Bree to teach me something, so shut the fuck up."

Katherine rose her hands up in defense, but the smile still didn't leave her face and neither did the amusement in her eyes. "Okay, sorry. Whatever will break me out. So update me on everything…"

I thought for a second. There wasn't much that happened since she got in the tomb, but I guess there was a fair share of events. "Well, first, I got kidnapped. I turned back into a human or witch, if you will. I witnessed an Original killing a vampire; met a really old vampire, Rose; learned that I needed to kill my sister and that's pretty much it. Oh! And I saw my best friend turn into a werewolf and almost kill me."

Katherine's amused smile turned vindictive. "Oh, so I missed all the juicy things."

I concluded sarcastically, "Pretty much."

"Did you get in contact with our little friend? Your lover?"

I groaned at the thought of that Original. "That guy. Thankfully, no. Well, actually, I think he's obsessed with me because he called me so much, I had to switch phone numbers."

"Why did you do that?" Katherine snapped angrily.

"Because he is a creep! He won't let me have any space. He lied to me straight to my face and betrayed me. I'm not really ready to go prancing back, okay? So piss off the topic." Katherine didn't press any more on the topic, so we fell into silence.

Katherine finally asked, "You said you practiced with Bree?" I nodded. "How did that go?"

"I learned the fire and water spell. We also found out that I can channel power through the earth," I replied, while checking my nails. "I can start fires, control them and start them. I can use water to put out fire and I can control water. After this, I think I'm going back to practice with her more."

"Good, my daughter's learning," Katherine congratulated. Silence fell over us again and I realized I didn't know much about Katherine. We basically only talked about progressing in our plan, but not really anything about her past or mine. We didn't talk about our lives; she only taught me Bulgarian so we could talk in secret if we were in front of someone. We basically had the worst mother/daughter relationship.

"_Mom,_ how was life in Bulgaria?" I asked nervously. Katherine's head snapped up from looking at the empty blood bag and her expression was confused.

"What is this? Why are you asking me this?" she interrogated and I snapped. _Fine, whatever. If she doesn't want to be nice, I won't stick around._

I got up from the spot and instantly was walking towards the exit of the tomb. "Nevermind, Katherine. I was trying to get to know you, but I guess I can't get close to you because that's just not how you roll apparently. Sorry for trying at all; goodbye."

"Wait!" Katherine called, trying to stop me by running after me. "I'm sorry. Sure, I'll tell you about my life." I stopped and turned around to Katherine who looked flustered. "I was just wondering because we never talked about this before…"

"Exactly," I pointed out, annoyance lacing my tone. "We never talk about your old life or anything. I just wanted to get close to my 'mother' but you are just so reserved, Katherine. I don't feel like I can talk to you about anything but the plan."

Katherine actually looked guilty and I felt like I had done my job. "_Raina_, I'm sorry. I didn't know you felt like that, but I'm glad that you are telling me now. Sit down," she invited as she gestured to the stone seats. "I'll tell you more and you can tell me more about your life before all the vampire drama." _At least she sounds genuine_. I followed her to the stone and took a seat next to her. "So, I guess I'll start with the day I met Dana. I was exactly 13 because it was my birthday and I was out playing with my sister, _Violeta_. We ran into her family practicing magic and we instantly became friends. I was born a witch, if you didn't know, so Dana taught me some magic. But her family didn't practice traditional or dark magic."

_I was totally confused. I thought there were only two types of magic; traditional and Expression. How is there another type and Bree didn't tell me?_ "What?"

"It's called _Traveller _magic, practiced by the _Travellers_. I know, it sounds weird, but my father was a Traveller. It's basically a group of witches that pass on spells to one another which no other witch outside the group knows. Basically, they're our kind of people; secretive." At this comment, I smiled like Katherine. "I didn't get much time to learn it though. I got caught up in boys. I have to say, the boys my age weren't very…attractive, so I had to get what I wanted from the older men. Sadly, I got pregnant out of wedlock so that was somehow 'frowned upon.'"

I shrugged and played along with Katherine's attitude. "A girl's gotta have fun sometime."

"Exactly," Katherine agreed, "But when I had my baby at 18, they took her away." Katherine started to look a bit sad when we got to this part. "I never saw my baby again after I had her. Nadia, I named her, even though I never actually got to name her. I begged my father to let me see her, but he never let me. He just took her away while I was crying with my mother and sister. He decided to teach me a lesson I would be sent away to England."

She continued, "I told him that he needed me; to carry on the Travellers legacy, but he still didn't agree to letting me stay. So, I had to say goodbye to my absolute best friend Dana and my sister. When I got to England, I decided that I wasn't going to let my father own me. I still had my pride and my dignity, so I slept around; just like I had done in Bulgaria. That didn't work out great for me because I played the brothers." _Typical Katherine to use people and turn them against each other. She did do that with the Salvatores._ "The Mikaelson brothers." _Gasp! I didn't know that she turned them against each other. Oh, what a tragedy. _"Yeah, I was a homewrecker. Somewhere in all of that, I got pregnant with you. But then I was running from Klaus when he found out that he needed to sacrifice me. I thought he loved me more than he loved to become a hybrid but I was obviously wrong. But that was okay because I was good with turning into a vampire."

"Yeah, because you needed to save yourself," I finished for her. Katherine looked a little distraught that I wasn't being as sympathetic as I could have been, but could you really blame me? I know that there was no other way for her to survive, except the plan Elijah came up with that might or might not have worked, but I died along with her. Sure, I was made to kill her, but I still would have liked to be brought into the world. "And Katherine? How was I created?"

Katherine looked amused. "Well, your mother, me, was messing around with men—"

It was my turn to interrupt someone. "No, I mean how was I created to kill you?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe I slept with a witch and they realized that I was a doppelganger or something?" she suggested. When I looked doubtful, she added, "Or maybe Mama Original knew that it might happen, so she just created you and you just happened to come along when I was sleeping around. I don't really know."

"I guess that still isn't cleared up, right? So, how was it?"

"How was what?"

"Your time homewrecking the brothers?" I asked and Katherine laughed.

"It was actually really amusing. They would get jealous when they saw me with the other brother. Elijah would keep his cool, but Klaus would bully the both of us when he saw something he didn't like. But I knew that if I wanted him that night, all I had to do was ask. They were practically wrapped around my finger. And I don't regret anything."

"Elijah's still holding it against you that you played him?"

Katherine nodded. "Pretty much. It's not like I care, but sometimes it just gets annoying; his grudge against me. Like now. I wish that I had him more whipped so I could be out of here making sure that I get free from Klaus's grudge."

My smile faded. "There you go again. Talking about the stupid plan," I barked with the annoyance intensified.

Katherine rushed to apologize, "I'm sorry! I don't realize that I'm being self-centered, it just happens. _Raina_, you need to understand that I'm just a selfish person. I try to be nice, but in the end, I always venture off to save myself."

"Kat, I get that, I really do. I know someone whose just as selfish, but it's like you don't even try! And I'm tired of being here to listen to you bitch about your problems. Thank god that your father took Nadia away from you because you suck as a mom!" I told her with no regrets. It pained me to see that I hurt her, but I said nothing to take it back. Katherine just looked down to her hands.

_Yeah, feel guilty. You're just like Klaus; always thinking of yourself. I mean, I guess you're better since you can admit to it, but that's seriously annoying. I go out of my way to protect everyone when all they do is hurt me. I am always there for my sister even when she lies to me and compels me. I am still friends with Damon even though he compelled me for a girl who—let's face it—he'll never get. Stefan, longtime boyfriend of Elena Gilbert, yet he comes into my room talking about these bullshit feelings. But when something goes wrong, he goes right to Elena because Elena is the fucking center of every situation. I try to help Katherine because she's family and in some way I love her even though she's done nothing to make me love her, and there she goes making sure SHE gets what she want. Bonnie and Caroline; my supposed 'best friends' always protect Elena because she's the better twin. Well guess what guys? I'm fucking here too! And don't even mention Klaus Mikaelson. I actually take the time to open up to Klaus even though whatever I do to love, I always get hurt and he just proved my theory even more._

_I opened my heart to Ryan who died on me. Opened my heart to my parents who died on me. Opened my heart to Tyler who cheated on me. Opened my heart to Vicki who died on me. Opened my heart to Elena who lied to me. Opened my heart to Damon and Stefan who compelled me. Opened my heart to Katherine who doesn't give a shit about anyone but herself. Wow Courtney, not only are you a freak, but you're also very usable. But don't worry, you'll get use to the pain…I think._

"Courtney…?" Katherine asked, breaking my thoughts. I turned to listen to her, even though I knew that it was probably some more bullshit. "I love you and I promise I'll try harder to show that I care for you. I know I'm focusing on myself, but as soon as I'm free of Klaus, we can get out of this town, of course after I get Stefan, and we can have more time together. And you know what? We can even go find Nadia, if she's still alive. I have a feeling she is because she's a Petrova. My daughter. Self-preservation runs in her blood."

I rolled my eyes at her thoughts even though she seemed genuine. "Thanks Katherine," I said sarcastically. "But I'll pass." I was up and out of the tomb before she could say anything else. I thought of going to the old Fell's church and then there I was. I didn't even have to close my eyes that time to teleport.

I found the book under the rubbish I hid it in and got back to my room. The tears fell freely as I sat on my bed and looked through the book. I guessed that Elena was probably at the boarding house since Stefan was back and Jeremy and Jenna left this morning. I was completely alone, just like I wanted. I looked through the book as I cried, but eventually stopped when I realized I was being pathetic.

"Come on," I whispered violently to myself, "You need to pull it together, Courtney. You are going to help Katherine and Elena because they're family and you love them. Then you are going to leave this fucked up town and be happy. You are going to find someone that loves you and then you are going to be happy. You'll have children and then you'll die along with Elena. Just make it through these few months."

I decided that I was going to follow through the plan I literally just made. "Now, just read through the grimoire." And so I did. No one interrupted me while I looked through the book and learned new spells. I didn't technically practice the spell, I just learned the words to the spell. It wasn't until I came across an entry talking about creating my own spell when I got really interested.

The entry said:

_Creating a spell isn't as easy as everyone may think it is. There's intense concentration and practice that is needed for this, but it isn't totally impossible. Most don't even finish creating the spell since they aren't powerful enough. They can create it in a group, but most witches are too secretive. These are the few steps of creating your own spell by Lana Ari._

_First: Have an idea. You always need a good, supportive idea for a spell or it won't work. If the motive is weak and the idea is half-assed (it didn't actually say that) then it won't even make it as a spell. You need to believe in this spell or all your work will be for nothing._

_Second: You need an outlet. Power doesn't just come like running water. Magic is like asthma. You need something to help you keep going. Have something you can channel power from because if you don't, you might kill yourself. Do not ever create a spell without some help. Find something to be your inhaler or your asthma will take control and you will die._

_Third: Be patient. Some spells can be created faster than others, depending on the amount of power put into it at the time. If it doesn't work the very first time, that's okay because not everyone can do that. You need to be a very powerful witch or have a very powerful outlet to create it on the first try. You can't lose your shit (made that up too) when you're trying to create a spell. It just won't work if you do that because everything will go wrong._

_Fourth: Create it. Think of what you want the spell to do. Then you create your own words. Something that will make anyone believe the words while they're trying to do the spell. If it's not something you don't believe then it will not work even if you have all the power in the world. Make sure that you repeat the words over and over again while thinking of what you want it to do. Use your outlet as you're doing this so the spell will work._

_Fifth and final: Test drive. If you don't test it first, you will never know if it will work. You need to make sure that you've created a spell to do what YOU want it to do. If it doesn't work, then just never use the spell again and try again. It doesn't matter how many times you try, you can do it if you believe._

_I leave this entry to all my fellow witches. Good luck…_

_Lana Ari_

I smiled at the entry and I realized what I needed to do. I need to create my own compulsion spell, just like how I planned. And I didn't need anyone to interrupt me while I was doing it. While everyone was off doing their own thing, not worrying about me, I could be creating a spell that would always come in handy for me.

I got up from my bed, slipped my shoes back on and imagined myself walking right into the forest. Without closing my eyes, I started walking and it was like walking into another scene. With the book in my hands, I went from walking in my room to walking into the forest right where I was the day before with Bree. I took in a deep breath of the fresh wood air and set the book down.

I was ready to complete something and prove to Katherine that I was determined and strong enough to create my own spells. If this one was successful, I was going to brag to every witch I saw. And I would have that beautiful compulsion back which I wanted so badly since I turned back into a human.

"Alright," I mumbled to myself. I thought about the first step that was in the book. _Idea…I want to create a spell that works on both supernatural creatures and humans. I want to create a spell that is mind control called compulsion._ "Mind control; compulsion on any supernatural creatures and humans."

Next, an outlet._ I_ _have the earth right here under me, so I am all set. Instead of standing up like I planned, I sat down on the ground with the book lap. My hands were on the ground, touch the floor so I had a direct link to my outlet. Third is patience. I can be patient. I don't need this to work right away and as long as I complete this, I am fine with how long this will take. Time isn't anything right now. If I don't get it the first time, then I can just try again. Fourth is creation._ "This is it, Court. You can do this."

Like in the directions, I thought about the center of the spell; what I wanted it to do. I thought about it making people listen to me when I asked or told them something. While thinking, I mumbled words I thought would go great with the whole mind control thing. In Latin, I might add_. "Compulsion est amicus tuus. Compulsion est amicus tuus. Compulsion est amicus tuus. Compulsion est amicus tuus. Compulsion est amicus tuus."_ 'Compulsion is your friend.'

I felt the wind shift around me and generally get heavier and windier around me as I chanted the words to my spell over and over. I felt the ground keep sending chills up my spine and making me feel powerful. But the power was drained for the spell as quickly as it came. The whole process was repeated over until I felt like it was enough. I literally stopped talking in the middle of the sentence because of the feeling of completion.

The winds stopped and so did the sense of power around me. When I opened my eyes, I was horrified. My surroundings weren't as they were before. The trees didn't have leaves on them anymore; they were dead and shriveled up. The plants weren't bursting with life and green, they were wilted and some totally dead. I realized that channeling the power from the earth dried it up. Channeling wasn't good for anything because it was unnatural power. Obviously channeling meant that a witch wasn't powerful enough to do something herself so she takes someone or something else's power to use for herself. That sounded like a Katherine thing to do.

As I stood up, I tried to push that I basically killed a lot of trees and plants to the back of my mind and focus on the fact that I just attempted to create a spell for the first time. And I even felt like I completed my goal.

_Fifth step is to test drive. I need to find someone to try this out on._

I closed the book and thought of going back to the old Fell's church. When I blinked my eyes, I was suddenly at the old, rundown building_. I am really getting better at this whole 'transportation' spell, aren't I?_ After hiding the book, I left the church and started walking back to the street. There were very few cars coming my way, but there was at least a taxi coming back from out of town and I hailed it. I got in the car and told the cabbie to drive me to the boarding house. When we got there, I got out of the car.

"Hey! Wait, you need to pay me!" Cabbie got out of the car to go after me and I smiled. It happened just the way I wanted it to. "I need the fee for the driving. That's kind of how a taxi works."

I turned around and looked right in the cabbie's eyes and under my breath I mumbled, _"Compulsion est amicus tuus."_ He looked confused, but when I raised my voice loud enough for him to hear, a blank expression washed over his face. "I want you to pay the fee for me. Then I want you to drive back home and forget all about this."

Cabbie repeated back to me, "I will go home and forget about all of this."

"And what else?" I inquired in a happy tone.

"Pay the fee," he answered.

"Good, now, off you go!" The cabbie left with the blank look on his face and didn't look back to question me. _It really worked! I created my own spell and it works! You may be a freak and maybe no one cares about you, but you are amazing!_

_Bitch please, I know I'm amazing._

_Just shut up. I'm trying to compliment you._

_I am you. You are me._

_Just walk into the damn house._

I listened to myself, stopped talking to myself and walked to the door of the boarding house. It wasn't until I got to the door when I realized that it was wide open. Not like it was supposed to be. The house was completely quiet which wasn't like it was supposed to be. I decided not to be all cliché and call out someone's name just in case that something was wrong. I carefully walked to the loft area and still found no one.

"Rose?"

Even though it wasn't my name, I turned to see who called her name. Elena was walking with a stake in her hand, looking lost and confused. It probably wasn't the best idea, but I walked up to Elena totally silently and then said, "Elena."

She jumped and turned around to shove a stake in my chest. Luckily, she was too slow and I got out of the way of the end. _Well, that felt like some cliché part in a movie where the heroine is saved even though it's totally not realistic. Way to go, Courtney._ She took in a deep breath when she realized who I was and hugged me. Taken back by the sudden action of affection, I slowly hugged her back and asked, "Elena, what's going on?"

"I thought you were someone else," she gasped, totally ignoring my question. Before I could say anything else, we both heard something, making both of our heads snap towards the door that was still open. "Hello?"

"Courtney, Elena?" a voice questioned behind us, causing me to jump. I turned around to piercing blue eyes staring at me with concern.

"Damon…"

"Where's Rose?" he interrogated Elena. She looked like she was troubled. I had no idea what the hell was going on, but I need to know fast.

"I don't know…"

"Wait! Everyone stop for a second: what's going on?" Damon and Elena didn't bother answering my question which caused me to stomp my foot. Sure, it seemed like I was throwing a hissy fit, but could you blame me? Once_ again_, I was being ignored by people I _thought _cared about _me_, but I was _mistaken_. "Damon, tell me what's going on?" I demanded and he finally turned his head to me.

"Rose was bitten by a werewolf," he said quickly and turned back to Elena. "What happened?"

"Wait, but Tyler was chained up the whole time last night. I was there and I know that for a fact." _Is there another werewolf in town? Who could it be? There originally never was a wolf in Mystic Falls, but now all of a sudden there is?_

"There's another werewolf in town," Damon said, confirming my suspicions. "Her name is Jules. She was friends with Mason and she's looking for him, but you and I both know she'll never find him."

"I wonder whose fault that is," I snapped.

"Yours because you let it happen," Damon barked back, "After I threatened Jules, last night, she came and bit Rose when she meant to bite me. A werewolf bite is lethal to vampires, you know that."

I was disgusted with Damon at that moment. He went and pissed off a werewolf and Rose was the one to pay for it. It seemed like everyone but himself paid for his mistakes and now Rose is dying because he couldn't just keep his big mouth shut. "Seriously Damon, you just couldn't restrain yourself on a full moon? What a dumbass."

"Shut up and help us find her," Elena butt in, trying to defend him. I wasn't surprised that she was defending Damon really; I was just surprised that she was so cold about it. Damon, he looked surprised though. In a way, my sister loved him. She may have denied it every time we accused her of it, but it was true. She didn't want Damon to die or Stefan. He was one of the people she wanted to save. Elena saw the good in him, just like I did. That's why I was pretty much still friends with him.

"Where's Stefan?" I asked as they tried to walk out the door and Damon groaned.

"Why is everyone always worried about Stefan?" he whined.

"I'm not worried about him," I disagreed, which was true. "I just want to talk to him." That was a lie. I wanted to yell at Stefan until my voice went out. I wanted to scream at him until his ears bled, but I just wasn't that kind of person, so I was just going to talk to Stefan about his asshole motives. Was he trying to get in between Elena and me? Was he pulling a 'Katherine' move? Because it really seemed like he was trying to make me love him and hate my sister. Which I wasn't…I still loved Elena like my life depended on it and it actually kind of did. Maybe the whole day I was holding in my tears just for Stefan to see and feel bad about. Or maybe I cried myself all out last night while listening to Elena and Stefan talk about how much they missed each other in the next room.

"He's looking for Isobel," Elena answered. Don't they know that she's dead? Even though I knew the real information, I decided not to say anything. I thought Elena was the one who told me that she died, but apparently, she didn't remember that her mother burned right in front of her. _Or maybe it was Kat who told me? I'm confused…we all look alike and it's just annoying._

"If you see him, send him my way, please?"

"Sure…" Elena agreed slowly and suspiciously. I didn't really care that Elena was suspicious because frankly, she could mind her own damn business. "Let's go find her." As we walked out the house, Damon's phone rang. I didn't bother try to listen to the conversation or the bits Damon said because I was too lost in my thoughts. _I really hope that she's okay because it would totally suck if she wasn't. Rose, just hang on a bit longer._

"They found someone dead by the dumpsters at the town square. I'm guessing that's where Rose was," Damon informed us as we got in the car. I decided to take control and take shotgun while Elena was stuck sitting in the back. She didn't protest against me, but I could tell that she was irritated with my behavior. I was feeling the exact same with the both of them.

Damon started the car and we were off to the town square. The car ride was silent and the tension was as thick as ever. I was arguing with myself whether I should tell them about the spell I created or keep them in the dark about it so I could use it on them. But then I would be like them when they compelled me and I'd feel all bad about it. Then again, didn't they deserve it? All they did was serve Elena who just wanted to die and I was there in the corner as the odd little freak that wasn't human and wasn't even meant to be on earth because she was created by a witch to kill the doppelganger. I was still friends with them, yet everyone else had to come before me. I had finally come to a conclusion by the time we got to the square, where there was a parade for whatever. (I didn't really keep up with the town news anymore. I kept to myself. I hadn't even been back to the Mystic Grill yet.) _I won't tell them about my whole spell thing, but I also won't use it on them at any time…ever. Maybe just once though…_

"Stay here," Damon instructed to the both of us as he went to check out the scene where all the police was gathered. I got out with Elena and leaned on the trunk of the car with her.

"Since when do you wear a romper?" Elena inquired, looking at my outfit. I looked at it myself; I was wearing an almost overalls romper with a black tank top under it and blue Toms. It wasn't something I'd usually wear but I was feeling a little playful that morning even though I had my heart ripped out, stomped on and then shit on the night before.

"You don't like it?"

"No, it's cute," Elena complimented, "I just never expected you to wear that kind of thing. It's just not your style."

I scoffed, "And what's my style, Elena? Please enlighten me."

Elena looked alarmed at my tone and I kind of felt bad. I guess I didn't have to be snarky and sarcastic about it. "I didn't mean it that way—"

"She was definitely here," Damon interrupted, coming over towards us looking flustered. I decided to just shrug off what Elena was going to say to me because I was just forgiving like that.

"Do you know where Stefan is?"

"There we go again with the Stefan," Damon groaned again. "My baby brother's whereabouts isn't on the top of my priorities right now. Take this." Damon handed Elena a small wooden stake and pushed her away from me.

"I fucking give up," I muttered and turned away.

"Hey!" Damon called after me, "You have your own powers to use. Elena's a helpless human." Instead of replying, I just gave him the finger and continued walking towards the woods. It seemed like the forest was my only friend in these times of need. When I got far enough away from the crowd, I thought of the Salvatore's foyer and I was walking into it.

Soon the fire was cracking, my shoes were at the top of the steps, I had a glass of bourbon in my hands and I was wrapped up in a blanket. I was pretty much set on moping and that was what I was going to do. I was going to bitch to my dead, ghost friend Vicki when she decided to show up. "Seriously Vicki, this would be the time you show up. I'm seriously not in the mood to cry alone."

But instead of my best friend, I got someone who accused me of being what I was. She stood in front of me with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face. "Look, the great Cassie isn't so dead that she's died when she's already dead dead."

"I have no idea what the hell you just said, but you need to get up off your fat ass and stop feeling sorry for yourself," she demanded, making me laugh at her before taking another sip of my alcohol.

"Cassie, you haven't changed a bit, have you?" She still didn't lighten up, so I cut the trying to cheer her up act and just let myself go. "I can't get out of self-pity if I have a reason to."

"Fine," Cassie grit, "What is your reason? What is so bad that even you, the great Courtney Gilbert, are feeling like you are nothing?"

"It was one night with him and I already started to fall hard. Then he gets stuck in a tomb and when he gets out, goes running back to my sister. If that's not sad, I don't know what is."

"So this is about a boy?" Cassie asked.

I clarified, "Yes."

Suddenly, her facial expression changed to worried and she rushed over to hug me. "Why didn't you say that in the first place? He must have hurt you so bad, Court. I am so sorry." It wasn't until she apologized when I realized that she was faking. I pushed her away and she laughed. "Seriously, don't let this guy get you down. You're a witch; witches are strong, independent women who don't need men to make them happy."

"No, I'm not a witch actually. I'm a newly discovered supernatural being called an _Assassin_ and I was created to assassinate someone and I just happen to possess powers of magic. I'm just a freak that no one cares about and once I'm done saving everyone's ass, I'm leaving this life behind and never thinking of it again. I don't want to feel like this anymore."

"Courtney, I hate to sound insensitive but what you just said is bullshit," Cassie said, not sounding like she regretted it or anything. I had to admit, I liked that about her. Cassie would tell it like it was. There was no beating around the bush with her. She'd just get straight to the point and as much as you didn't want to hear it, she told you and opened your eyes.

"You're actually right," I agreed, taking the last sip from the glass. "I need to stop moping around because as bad as it is now, it'll get better, won't it? Right now I need to keep my head high and stop being a little baby." Cassie finally smiled at this and actually hugged me like she meant it. "So, I'm practicing my witch powers."

"Oh, are you now?"

"I found my dead friend Bree's grimoire and I was practicing with her." Cassie looked just as confused as everyone when I told them about seeing dead people. "Key word: dead. She's a ghost, but I can still interact with her like I can with you. Anyway, we figured out my outlet."

"Your what?" Cassie asked.

I replied, "My outlet. I can draw power from it and it's the earth. I'm one of those 'witches' who can draw power from the earth. Pretty cool, right?"

Cassie's face was excited and mortified at the same time. "You can actually draw power from the earth?"

"Yes."

"I heard that witches that can do that not only have one outlet of the ground outside, but anything you can touch that's mothernature," Cassie informed me, "You were created to kill someone, yet given powers to do so. I'm guessing they created you from the earth if you can do that. So, I think you can draw power from fire, water, and earth. I'm not sure about wind since you can't physically touch it."

"Actually you can, but I see what you mean. But what you're saying is that I can draw power from that fire right there?" I pointed to the crackling fire I created when I first got here. Cassie nodded causing me to get up from my spot and walk over to the hearth. "Let's test out your theory." I wasn't afraid that if I touched the fire I would get burned because I was already in a lot of pain and physical pain wasn't going to compare to the emotional pain I was feeling. I held out my hand to the fire, closed my eyes and waited for the burn. When I didn't feel anything and when I heard Cassie gasp, I opened my eyes to see the fire crawling up my arm to my shoulder, yet I didn't feel anything…much. It wasn't a burn or pain I felt; it was more of a tickle.

Cassie mumbled behind me, "This is amazing…"

I retorted, "I know. I'm amazing."

I thought of what Bree taught me. If I wanted the fire to do something, I only needed to think of it. I thought of the fire spitting back into the hearth and seconds later, it did. I pulled my hand away from the hearth quickly, making sure no more got on me. I felt regenerated and renewed; it was the same feeling I got when I channeled from the earth. _I guess I've found a safer outlet; for me and the environment._

I turned back to Cassie with a smile to see that she was looking like she found a key or something. The last thing she said (to make it all dramatic and confusing) before she disappeared was, "I found her."

My cliché life got even more cliché when I realized that Cassie disappeared the same time Damon burst through the door with Rose in his arms. She looked worse than ever and I rushed over to make sure she was okay. Rose's eyes were closed, so I assumed she passed out or something.

"Is she okay? What did you do to her?" I questioned as I followed Damon to his bedroom.

Damon snapped back, "I didn't do anything to her, okay?" He set her down on the bed and pulled the sheets over her body. Rose was still asleep even after he kissed her forehead. "She's just had a rough night."

"Damon, this is your fault. She's like this because you couldn't just be a good person for one second," I accused, even though I knew I shouldn't have. Damon pulled me out of the room roughly.

"I know it is," he barked in a hushed tone, "but what do you want me to say?"

I answered back in the same quiet tone, "I don't want you to say anything. I want to act differently. You need to start thinking about what you do that affects other people. You see that you barked your mouth off to a werewolf—on a full moon, I might add—and Rose paid for it. You're a dick if you don't feel any regret or remorse for—"

"Of course I do!" Damon argued, interrupting me. "I feel bad for not killing that mutt when I had the chance. I regret ever letting Rose get in the way of Jules's teeth. I regret that it wasn't me who was bit." He stared me right in the eyes and I knew, from those icy blue orbs, he was telling the absolute truth. He did regret everything that happened. But that still didn't cut it for me.

"Then stop making regrets, Damon." I ripped my arms from his grip and stomped back to the foyer. I found Elena standing there trying to pretend like she wasn't listening to the whole conversation. "Go on; I think your lover will want you."

"Damon's not my lover," Elena snapped and then walked right past me. _Yeah, I'm making everyone hate me. And oddly enough, I don't really give a shit._

I sat down on the couch and thought about everything. _Courtney, it doesn't matter. You're a crazy person who talks to herself, yet she has amazing powers that are limited because you can't do it around these other people. Katherine is too full of herself; Stefan and Damon care about Elena too much along with Caroline, Bonnie and Jeremy and Elena is too focused on dying. So basically, you're the only one whose life is shit and they don't even know it. But as soon as you do this, you can go be happy, alright?_

I nodded to myself like a total insane person and then realized there was someone in the next room dying because of one of those people. I got up and walked back to the room where Elena was talking to Rose.

"Oh, Courtney, I didn't expect you to be here," Rose grunted.

"Yeah, well, people didn't expect me to ditch, but I did. I didn't expect my sister to lie to me and my friend to compel me. I didn't expect someone who I thought would care about me to betray me and someone who said they liked me, yet they went running to someone else. Or I didn't expect someone I thought was changing for the better, but they were as selfish as ever to not even try for me. I guess people really surprise you."

Rose requested after moments of silence, "Guys, let me talk to Courtney alone, please…" Damon and Elena left the room with no protest. _See, if I asked, they'd get all snarky about it. Maybe I should do something suicidal and maybe they'll see that I'm fed up with their shit._

"I am so sorry about what happened. I wish that you didn't have to die this slowly—"

"Don't apologize." Rose held her hand up softly to cut me off. "We're not talking about me, we're talking about you." I shook my head in confusion. "I know that I might be causing some misunderstanding, but I am dying after 460 years on this earth and I don't want to be focused on me for one second. You're troubled…"

I sighed. "Yes, I am. I just don't feel appreciated or really all that wanted."

"And why is that?"

"Because everyone in my life is either ignoring me, lying to me or being so selfish, it literally radiates off their skin," I replied with a snarky attitude.

"I've been running my whole life from someone who is feared by many because of a stupid mistake my best friend made," Rose said to me, "Your life isn't all that bad." I laughed. "Trevor had someone that would stick by his side no matter what happened to him and you know what? You'll find someone like me who won't lie or ignore you or be so selfish, it's palpable. You'll find someone who will think of you as family and help you find the light even in the darkest days. Now, I know that last line sounded cheesy as hell, but it's true."

"You know, it's true what they say?"

Rose asked, "What?"

"The older they are, the wiser," I answered with a straight face causing Rose to laugh, which led to a cough and that led to blood on the sheets. "Are you okay?"

"Well, I'm literally lying on my death bed, coughing up blood, but I'm happy right now." I smiled at Rose and gave her a hug. "It doesn't hurt as much anymore." The irony was scary in that situation because she suddenly started groaning right after she said it. Damon burst in the room with Elena right behind him. I got out of the way for him to get to her.

"Go! Now!" he demanded, holding Rose as she suffered. It was like watching Tyler all over again.

Elena started, "Damon, I want to—"

"Go! I've got this." I knew Elena wasn't going to listen on her own, so as I was walking out the door, I pulled her with me. After getting far enough to the hall, she didn't put up a fight anymore and just continued along with me back to the foyer. I sat on the couch and didn't say a word to Elena as she paced across the room ranting on about hoping Rose was okay.

When she realized that I wasn't really caring about what she had to say, she rushed over to me. Elena bent down at my knees and took my hand. "Am I the selfish one? I overheard you guys talking and I just want to know if I'm the selfish one. Because Courtney, if I am—"

"No, Elena, it's not you. It could never be you," I denied, "You are the most caring person I've ever met and I'm sorry if I've isolated you out for a while. I'm just…jealous. Everyone cares about you and couldn't give two shits about me."

"Courtney, you are loved and you know it," Elena said firmly, but I shook my head anyway.

"Elena, admit it. You know you've always got more attention than me even when we were kids. But I've learned to accept it. So don't ever think you're the selfish one because you are most definitely not." Elena tried to smile, but I knew everything was too grim for either one of us to even smile.

Damon came out of the room with tears in his eyes. Well, there weren't actual tears in his eyes but he did look like he was crying. _He really cared about Rose and now he just lost her. Poor guy…_

"It's done. She's gone."

* * *

><p>I walked into my house after sheading a few tears on the porch. I opened the door to someone I didn't expect to see for a while.<p>

"Jonathan!"

He turned around to me. "Courtney!"

I ran into the arms of my very missed uncle. "Welcome back to Mystic Falls."

* * *

><p><strong>Two updates in two days. I'm on a roll. I noticed that the story isn't as funny as it use to be. I guess it got all serious and depressing, but I'm going to make sure that changes. Anyway, I'll try to update tomorrow too because I love writing this.<strong>

**katherineismikaelson**


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

**Pretty short, but yeah. Here ya go.**

Once again, I woke up to someone in my bed. I didn't expect to see this face for a while, or in fact, ever. Ryan, my dead ex-boyfriend, was lying beside me. I guessed that it was another dream, but usually I dreamed of people I knew at the time. He was staring at me with a smile and sighed when he saw that I was awake with him. I took this time to look around at my surroundings and realize that I'm not in the boarding house, my house or any house I recognize. This room was so different from mine and any others I knew. It was a light colored room with many long and wide windows with retro appliances. The dresser was light brown and had silver handles and the mirror next to it was a long, arched mirror. The bed I was lying on had a white colored duvet and a light brown headboard matched the dresser. Next to the bed, there were two little end tables with laps on each side. To sum it up, this room was pretty cliché. What surprised me was that I was dreaming about my ex.

Truly, I loved him. I was fifteen and I was in love with Ryan. He made me feel like I wasn't ignored or second best to Elena; he made me feel like I was important. Kind of like the way Klaus made me feel, unfortunately. But he died when we were dating from an animal attack (at least that's what they told me) and I never got to see his body. The sheriff never made me doubt her before, so I went along with it. I'll never really know what happened to my beloved Ryan. That's why it was so weird that I had remembered his face; I hated looking at photos of him.

"Darling?" Ryan asked and I turned my head towards him. I was glad my mind never really did forget his beauty. I loved the way his brown eyes sparkled even when he wasn't smiling or the way his hair would sometimes fall in his eyes and he would have to swipe it away. The brown locks never were that long, except for the bangs. He was my fantasy; my escape. And it looked like he hadn't changed one bit.

"Yes?" I replied softly.

"Are you alright?"

I thought for a second: _Am I alright?_

When I found my answer, I responded, "Yes, I'm quite alright. I'm here with you, aren't I?"

"I suppose that's so. But are you worried or something? You look like it." He went to place his hand on my cheek and I could finally feel the warmth of his hand again. This dream was absolute bliss for me. I snuggled into his hand inconspicuously, and looked up into his caring eyes. They were shining.

"No, I'm fine. I'm just…" I had to think for a minute. _What excuse is there? What would make it seem like I was just confused? _"I'm just confused. Why are we still in bed when we could be making breakfast?" Ryan laughed along with me (I was pretending to be happy; I was actually really nervous) and leaned in for a kiss. As much as I wanted to kiss him, I knew it would pain me if I did. I couldn't put myself through that pain, so I just avoided it. His smile dropped when he realized what was really going on.

"Darling, what's going on?" His hand reached out to touch my face and guide it back to his. I looked into his caring, shining eyes and I smiled. He was just so beautiful with his golden brown skin and sensitive personality. I had really scored when I was with Ryan. But this dream was becoming painful in more ways than one. Not only did I miss him with all my heart, I also was angry at fate for ripping him away from me before we actually could have a future together.

"I just can't believe it," I answered, voice cracking. "It's like a dream. Having you here, being here with you. It's just like everything I ever wanted."

Ryan smiled, revealing his perfectly straight, blinding white teeth. "It's not a dream. I'm here; married to you and you're married to me. We are going to be infinite, just like we agreed at the wedding, right?" I couldn't believe it. I mean, I should have expected it. My self-conscience knew how much I loved him and then in the dream, it created that I was married to him; just like how I planned.

I just sighed. He was something that was all kinds of wonderful and I was lucky to have him, even if it was in a dream. He leaned in to steal a kiss, and I let him. If felt real and emotion filled; just the way it was when he was alive. I loved the way he kisses me. I loved the way he touches me on my cheek, giving me butterflies. I loved the way his hands were perfectly made for mine. _I love the way he makes me feel. _We kissed passionately for a few seconds before someone burst through the door.

"Mommy!" A little girl, who didn't look older than six, was the one running from the hallway into our room. I stared at the cute little girl who had her curls bouncing as she bounced on our bed. She was short and young looking with white teeth and bronze colored skin. I looked over at Ryan, who was smiling like a crazy person at the little girl. _She's ours… She's beautiful._

"Shanley, what are you doing up, girl?" Ryan asked incredulously. I just stared at her with loving eyes as they had a conversation. _Shanley, how beautiful…_

"I wanted to cook breakfast with mommy," she replied with a joyful tone. She was lying in between our legs. Shanley turned towards me, though I was staring at her creepily. "Remember, you promised."

"Yes, little fairy, I did say that, didn't I?" I lied, playing along with a smile. My acting skills were coming in, but I could tell I wasn't going to have to act when I started to love this little girl. She was like a little big ball of sunshine, if that made any sense. I had only met her, my own daughter, but I loved her already.

"Yeah, so get up!"

Another girl walked in, looking about sixteen, with straight hair black hair and the same bronze skin as the Shanley. She had her arms crossed like a real teen, but she had a smile on her face. "I guess I could help too," she offered. Ryan laughed and nodded.

Shanley rejoiced at the news, "Yay! Everyone cooking breakfast today!" The teen walked farther into the room, but she stopped at the bed like she wasn't welcome.

"Honey, why are you standing there? Come join us," I invited happily, already getting use to the family. They were lovable and joyful people. They made me forget my life back in Mystic Falls; back in real life. _Too bad it's all a dream…_

The girl smiled and climbed on the bed just as bouncily as her sister. "What are we doing today?"

"Well, tomorrow we leave for Virginia, back to our hometown Mystic Falls, so we're going to go shopping for extra things we might need," Ryan summed up and I tried not to look alarmed. _No, no, no! I can't have my life back in Mystic Falls ruin what I have right now. That would be way too much for me to handle. I'm guessing once I go to Mystic Falls with this beautiful family, I'll wake up._

"Oh, okay. Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go make some breakfast!" The teen was the first to jump out of the bed and the rest of us followed her. I decided I was going to make the most out of this whole thing and just play along with the whole thing. I mean, I might as well have had fun if I was just going to wake up from the dream, anyway. It was something most people would do even if they were dreaming about a family with their dead ex.

"Who's getting the pancake mix?" I asked and Shanley raised her hand. I laughed and added, "Just make sure your sister goes with you. Daddy and I will go get everything ready, alright?"

"Yeah! Hands in," Ryan demanded playfully, stopping us all. Shanley was the first to put her hand on top of Ryan's and then me and then our teenage daughter. "Go Dennings!" They yelled and I pretended along with them. We split up and I followed Ryan to the kitchen. The house looked pretty nice to be honest. It was my kind of house with the updated furniture and white walls.

I guessed most of the time, thinking of where I would put things and I got it right…most of the time. The third time I got it wrong, Ryan gave me a funny look and I laughed nervously. I really needed to step it up if I wanted to convince him that I wasn't crazy, even though it was my dream and if I didn't want things to go wrong, they didn't have to.

The girls came in a few minutes after I sent them off to get the Bisquick mix. Ryan had the bowl out along with the whisk and I got out the milk and eggs. We set it all on the counter and gathered around the box, looking for the directions.

"Nadia, would you like to read out the directions?" Ryan asked and the teen nodded. _Nadia… After my unknown sister._

"Alright, first put two cups of Bisquick pancake mix in bowl," Nadia read out loud. Shanley was the first to flee to a drawer that looked like it had measuring cups. Nadia continued when Shanley joined us with the measuring cups, "Next, mix in one cup of milk. After, add two eggs."

"We know what we need to do, so let's start!"

Slowly, yet quickly (if that makes any sense), we mixed together the ingredients and started cooking our pancakes. It was fun filled and joyful; something I didn't know I could have. I mean, when I was with Ryan before all the drama, I was happy to say that I wanted to spend my life with him. Once we got out of high school, I wanted to be with him for the rest of my life and start a family, like we had in the dream. But then he died, I fell for Tyler, he cheated on me, I got my best friend who turned out to be the one he cheated on and I got caught up in drama. Ryan was my true love and I wasn't ready to be committed to a serious relationship like I was with Ryan. Sure, I wanted to date like any other girl; I just wasn't ready to say something like 'yes' to a proposal. I just loved Ryan too much to do that. I felt like I was betraying him. Then the whole vampire/doppelganger drama happened and I never thought I would be able to escape that. Sure I would try, but it seemed like it would just follow me. So having a dream like the one I was having was something not even words could explain. I was happy with Ryan and a family just like I had planned.

When we finished up the pancakes, we split up to set the table. I was in charge of getting glasses and plates, which was pretty easy to find; I imagined where I would put them. We sat at the table (Shanley and Nadia sitting across from Ryan and I) after we got everything set up, with the pancakes in the middle of the table alongside the syrup, whipped cream and berries. It was some cliché kind of movie, the way we were talking and laughing at the table together. It was my cliché

We finished up after a few pancakes and started cleaning up. Nadia helped me with the dishes while Shanley and Ryan cleaned up the table and the counters.

"Mom?" Nadia asked as we loaded the dishwasher together. Yeah, it was weird having someone call me mom, but I had to admit; I loved it.

"Yes?"

"Remember that guy I told you about?" I had no idea what the hell she was talking about, but I had to play along.

"Yeah, I remember him," I confirmed, lying. Nadia took a deep breath. She looked nervous.

Nadia stuttered, "W-well, he…um… He asked me out the other day." I wasn't sure how to react. I didn't know who this guy was and I didn't know if she liked him or not. _Poker face, Courtney, poker face._

"And what did you say?"

"I said maybe. Look, I like him but I know you guys don't. He's an older guy and you guy want me to focus on school, but can't I just live a little?" I let myself laugh. She sounded like me when I was begging to go out with someone. Of course, even if my parents said no, I went for it anyway, but I would always want to know what they would say before I did anything. Almost every time they said 'no' and I promised that I would let my daughter try out every relationship she wanted. If it was with a serial killer, no, of course not. If I had to tie her to her bed and hand feed her to stop her from going out with the killer, I would if I had to. But I promised myself that I would trust my children the way I wanted my parents to trust me.

"Nadia, I think if you want to go out with him, you should," I advised and Nadia looked confused. "I know I've said something in the past about older guys and how you shouldn't go for it, but your father was an older guy to me and looked how that turned out. I'm not saying you can jump into bed with him or go off and join his gang, if he has one. I'm saying that you can try it out. My parents did that to me and I trust you to make the right decision. Can I trust you to ditch him if he's bad news?"

Nadia's face turned around and she smiled while nodding. "Thank you, mom."

"Now, just don't tell dad," I whispered causing Nadia to laugh. _If I can get past all the cries and diapers the first few years, having children ain't so bad._

"He's going out with his friends at the mall, at least that's what he told me, and we're going to get some things at the mall. Maybe we could see him there?"

"Sure, we'll go to the mall to see this mystery guy," I agreed.

Nadia shook her head playfully. "You're so old. I told you his name, remember? Harry?"

My smile faded a bit. "Oh, yeah, I forgot. Maybe I am getting old."

"Oh! That reminds me of the time he got in a fight with this other guy and coach had to break it up. They were fighting over who was the toughest or something and the other guy brought out a knife. He started swinging the knife at Harry and I swear it cut him on his hand. But then when I checked his hand, it was suddenly healed. Weird, right?"

_Harry is still alive? After all these years? And he's here at my daughter's school?_

"Yeah, that is weird. Hon, if he's getting in fights, then—"

Nadia reminded, "Remember the trust thing you told me?" I laughed at my daughter and nodded. Maybe she was more like her mother than I thought. "Ah, we get to go on a trip! Back to your hometown. Where I was born. And don't worry, I'm not going to get pregnant in my second year of high school like you."

_Wait, what?_

* * *

><p>"You told her she could what?" Ryan quietly yelled in our room when we got back in. He figured out that I told Nadia that she could go for that guy a grade above her when he winked at her at the mall and she walked over to talk to him. For the rest of the trip, he was giving me the stink eye. I knew that he was going to yell at me when we got home so I tried to stall it as much as I could by talking to Nadia before I went to tuck Shanley in to bed. Yet, that only racked up thirty minutes.<p>

"Honey, it's not that big of a deal," I replied softly, taking off my shirt. I assumed since we were a couple, _married_ couple, that I could just change in front of him. When he didn't put up a fight, I continued to change. I found my way around the room nicely and found a short purple gown that stopped just below my butt with black lace straps. It was actually pretty sexy, if I do say so myself. "We talked about trust and her leaving him if he's any trouble. You know, she'll pull a Taylor Swift. If she knows he's trouble when he comes in, she'll leave."

Ryan was quick to snap back, "Yeah, Taylor Swift also talked about him having notches on his belt. I'm not going to let my daughter be a notch on some man-whore's belt."

"Alright, off the topic of Taylor Swift and her break up songs. Ryan, this could be something for her. She sounds like she really likes him and I think she should give him a chance." Ryan still didn't let up on the scowl as we got into the bed. "You were the sexy older guy, remember?"

Ryan turned over to look at me. He mocked me, "And I got you knocked up, remember?" That was true and a fair argument. Maybe it was time to plead.

"Ryan…"

"Courtney…"

"Too bad, she's going on a date with him!" I concluded, giving up on him. Yeah, when I was a teen, I wanted to go on a date with Ryan and my parents hated him. He was that guy who didn't give a damn about anything or anyone, but then he opened up to me and became better. I guess you could call me the girl who changed the bad boy. But then he got himself killed and broke my heart.

"No, she's not," Ryan argued.

"Yes, she is."

"No, she's not."

"Yes, she is."

"No, she's not."

"Yes, she is."

"Courtney! No, she is not."

We both heard the voice of our oldest daughter ask, "Do I have a say in this?"

"NO!" we both yelled at her, not even looking. I couldn't feel more cliché, but I had a feeling that it would get even more fake.

"She can go out with whoever she wants, Ryan."

"She's a fucking sophomore. She needs to focus on school."

"So you're saying that she can't have any fun as long as she's in school?" I challenged and he looked defeated.

But he quickly responded, "I'm not saying she can't have fun. She just can't have fun with whatever the tool's name is! He's too old!"

"You're too old!"

"I have to agree with that." We still ignored Nadia even though I hated getting ignored by my family.

Ryan stopped fighting loudly and went to a softer tone. "I just don't think that I should let my princess go to some guy that might break her heart. I'm just not going to let that happen, okay, Courtney? I'm not going to let that happen."

I turned to Nadia standing at the door in a big t-shirt and held out my hands to her. Nadia willingly walked over and got in the bed next to me. She didn't get under the covers, but she was still lying next to me. "If I recall correctly, you were a senior when I was a sophomore and look how we turned out? We had fun and still graduated."

"We had a little too much fun and I got you pregnant."

"We still graduated and look at the little bundle of joy we have now," I pointed out. Ryan looked down at our beautiful daughter who was smiling up at her daddy. "Ryan, at least let her try…"

Ryan stared at Nadia for a while and he finally looked like he came up with an answer.

"No."

Nadia and I both groaned at the same time while Ryan just gave us a sarcastic smile. "Sorry, I'm not going through with it. Too bad, Di, you can't go."

"Dad, you suck." Nadia got off the bed all mad and disappointed and I called out to her, "I'll make sure your father says yes."

"Thanks mom!"

"I know, I'm amazing," I called back before she shut our door.

"You're not going to convince me." Then the lights went out and it was silence. I had a smile on my face as I got settled, but then I realized that I actually wasn't going to get to change his mind. I was going to wake up from this dream before I got to. It was a shame because I really wanted to see the look on Nadia's face when I told her she could go. But I was going to wake up and go back to my crappy life in Mystic Falls. _Well, at least I got a day with this wonderful family. I wish I could have longer, but he's dead and I'm a witch that needs to help out her _real _family. I wish that everything could work out with everyone. I wish Ryan was still alive._

I closed my eyes. I didn't know how long I was out, but when I opened them again to someone shaking me, I didn't expect to see my dream husband's face. I would have thought I would have woken up by now, but no, I was still in dream world. I had to go through the pain of loving this family more than I should have.

"Court, get up. We need to get ready, remember? The flight leaves at 8:30 this morning?" Ryan shook me even more, and I blinked a few times to try and get the sleep out of my eyes.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot. I'll be right up." Ryan smiled at me and then returned to getting on his clothes. I leaned up and saw that Ryan was frantic, running all around the room to get the things he needed. I slowly got up from the bed and thought about all of this. _Okay, I'm human in this dream and I can't get away from it. What the hell is going on? I've never had a dream like this one…_

"Courtney, hurry!"

"Oh, yeah!" I got up from the bed and went straight to the bathroom to do my morning routine. After taking a shower, I walked into the room only wearing a towel. While looking through the suitcase for something, I heard a wolf-whistle.

"You know, it's times like these when I remember why I married you," Ryan commented behind me making me laugh. I felt his hands on my hips and his body closer to mine in the following seconds. "You're so sexy, you know that?"

"And you so need to get the girls up," I replied, still looking through the suitcase. Believe me, I was so glad that I had his hands on my hips again, but I needed to play it cool like the teenage Courtney would when she was with her bae.

"They're already up," Ryan whispered seductively.

"Yet I'm not dressed, so if you could just move those—" I moved his hands from my hips. "—and step away, that'd be great." I pushed his body farther away from mine and I could tell he was confused. _Poker face… _"Thanks!"

"Come here!" Ryan spun me around into his lips. His soft, warm, inviting lips. They felt hungry and greedy that morning.

"Mom, if we're on a plane, should I— Ew… Nasty!" We broke apart to see Nadia standing at our door with a disgusted look on her face. "You're parents now. You can't do that."

"Nadia, you'll have to get used to it," Ryan said like it was tough love, "I'm the definition of a MF-er."

"Dad! Nasty!" Nadia covered her ears while I laughed. _Oh, Ryan would be the only person to say that. Besides Damon, of course, because he was so open to everyone. It always amazed me how perverted the two guys were. _"I'll just come back when you're not planning to shag mom."

Ryan replied chipper, "Okay!" Nadia got out of sight quickly and I frowned at Ryan. "What?"

"You can't just say that to our daughter," I scolded.

"Why?"

"Because, that's nasty! Really disgusting and uncomfortable for her."

Ryan winked. "It's true, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but you don't just tell her that."

"I do what I want," he responded with that cocky attitude he had when he was alive.

"Oh, you badass." I pulled myself from his arms and I turned back to the suitcase. Ryan left me alone to change, but he kept talking about how good some of the nights we had together we good. I was glad I got along with Ryan so well because I really did love him no matter what he did; even if it was as far as getting himself killed. I eventually found a horizontal blue and white striped dress that fell to my knees and a brown belt running across the waist. I quickly changed in to it and added some black zip-up, open-toed heels. After looking over my dress in the mirror, I noticed something; I still had Damon's necklace around my neck. I was glad to know that I still loved my friends, even in dreams.

I grabbed everything left that I needed and went downstairs to see everyone loading things into the car. I helped them with everything and once we got in the car, I took a moment to appreciate that we were a real family. Then we got to the airport and I started to hate having to be an adult human. At least when I was a teenage witch/occasional vampire, I could just go anywhere I wanted without having to face the government patting me down like it was a fucking strip club. I knew I was hot, even as some thirty year old woman, but seriously. Did they really need to pat me down twice and chuckle with a shit eating grin while doing it? I had my children with me; they didn't need to see that I was a possible MILF.

We finally got on the plane and I was sitting by Shanley and some stranger while Ryan and Nadia were sitting behind us by themselves. They were lucky little bitches. While Shanley was by the window enjoying the view, I had some creepy guy that kept staring at me like I was food or something. I swear, it was the look Edward gave Bella every time she wore short sleeves. He must have been a vampire.

I closed my eyes and slept on the plane. I expected that I would wake up back in my own bed but when I awoke again, I was on the plane with my daughter trying to wake me up. _This dream is seriously not going to give up. _"Mommy! We're here!" Shanley rejoiced when Ryan came over with my carry on. He handed it to me with a smile and rubbed his chin. I repeated his actions and realized there was something wet. _Great, you drooled. Not only in front of Ryan, but in front of your children and some stranger. Wow Courtney, even as a grownup you are so fucking smooth... At least your sarcasm is still here. I was beginning to think that you had nothing else, but family time in you._

_Nope, the teenage Courtney is still here, even in a dream._

"Yeah, we're here." I got up and slowly made my way off the plane behind Nadia and Ryan while holding Shanley's hand who was trailing behind me. We were the last ones to get off the plane, so the staff gave us forced smiles and some even gave us frowns. They were really not happy in life.

We got off, found our baggage, and went in to rent a car. I figured we were just outside of Mystic Falls and I really couldn't wait to go back and see my family. Yeah, at the same time I didn't want to ruin it with all that drama, but I wanted to flaunt off to Stefan that I was happy without his lying, fake ass. So some feeling got carried over into my dream life, so what?

My family loaded into the red Nissan Rogue along with the baggage. It was a ten minute drive when I saw the _'You are now entering Mystic Falls' _sign. Shanley squealed in the back with her sister. We were probably supposed to have her be riding in a carseat, but so what?

We drove right past the Mystic Grill and the high school and the park and everything I loved about my little town. There were still people walking on the sidewalk talking to each other like I did with Vicki and Tyler. Everything was just the same, even in the dream world. Ryan drove us to a house that looked very similar to all the houses on the block. The little town of Mystic Falls was kind of…_superficial._

"We're here!" Ryan announced, turning off the car and taking off his seatbelt.

"What?"

"Remember, I told you we were renting a house?"

"Oh, yeah, I remember," I lied smoothly (and I'm not being sarcastic) while getting out the car. I went on the same side to get Shanley out nicely. She was still light enough for me to hold her when we walked up to the house and Ryan found the keys in a plant. _That's where we hide our extra keys._

"So, remember. Your mother and I are going to drop you off at your aunt Jenna's and then your mother and I are going to go and see our old friends," Ryan cleared up as we walked into the house. It was similarly set up like ours except it looked like the living room was upstairs and there was a larger dining room.

"Aunt Jenna?" _Jenna still lived in this old town?_ I thought she'd go somewhere, meet someone. I honestly had seen Jenna living somewhere else than this quiet little town of Mystic Falls. I mean, Elena, Jeremy and I were the only reasons why she came back here. I guessed that when we grew up, she'd go off and do bigger, better things.

Ryan chuckled, "You really aren't that old, are you? And it hasn't been that long. You met my sister Jenna in Pennsylvania, remember?"

"Wait, Jenna Dennings?" But Jenna was supposed to be dead. I should know because I was the one to kill her…fucking twice! Why was she the one that had to be related to Ryan? She was white! And he was black! That just didn't work. Okay, she was a little tan, but that could have been from anything.

Once again, we loaded luggage from one place to another and the girls fought over rooms. It was the typical movie entrance and then something would go bad. I could literally feel it.

Ten minutes after, we drove to a house looking like the one next to it and we all got out of the car. "Now, we're going to be back as soon as we can, alright?" I said to Shanley, who looked a little reluctant.

"We'll be back in a few hours," Ryan said, cutting me off before I could say anything more. I kissed Shanley on the head and she gave me a long hug. I pointed to the car and Ryan knew what I meant. It wasn't like I didn't like Jenna; she was a ball of sunshine when I met her, but it was just that. I didn't want to meet her again because I would feel guilty and that would throw me off my game.

So, I waited in the car as Ryan knocked on the door and handed the kids over. When he got back in the car, he said, "Well, that was rude."

"I know, but, I don't know. I just didn't really want to…"

Ryan sighed as he started up the car. "But she's my sister."

I didn't say anything after that so I didn't upset him anymore and we didn't talk at all on the way to the grill. I kind of messed it up, but that didn't matter because I was going to make it up to him. I was going to buy him a drink and make him happy. Together, we got out the car and walked up to the grill. Suggestively, I got his hand in his and he actually didn't pull away. I was getting somewhere with him.

We walked in and the first person I spotted was Stefan drinking and talking to the bartender. I pulled Ryan towards the bar direction and took a seat right next to Stefan. "Whattup, Salvatore?" I greeted. Stefan looked in my direction confused.

"She's old," Ryan excused, "Hey, Tom!" Stefan stood up to give my husband a hug while I sat there looking just as confused as Stefan. _Tom? Who the hell is Ryan talking about? This is Stefan Goddamn Salvatore. There was no Tom on the premises. _"She's been forgetting things all day. I don't know what's up with her. But what's new with you?"

I questioned, "Excuse me, Tom? Tom who?"

"Tom Avery," 'Tom'/Stefan answered reluctantly staring at me weirdly like I had grown two heads. "We went to high school together…"

"Courtney, he was the one that your sister was just dying to go out with. You told me how she begged you to ask me to ask him if he liked her?" Ryan suggested trying to jog my memory. I didn't know what he was talking about, but I played along.

I smiled and laughed. "Tom, I'm just kidding. How could I forget you? You were the one all the girls were fawning over." I went into hug him and he happily hugged me back. _What the actual fuck? Tom, who are you and what have you done to Stefan? _He looked exactly like that lying Salvatore and I mean exactly like him. Same nose, mouth, cheek bones; even the same hair Stefan had that made him look like a good boy. There was something freaky going on.

"Yeah, you stole all my thunder when you came," Ryan joked, though true bitterness laced his voice, but just slightly. I sat there with them trying not to look confused as they talked about high school. _But where's Stefan? And Elena? And Tyler? And Bonnie? And Matt? And Caroline? I seriously thought Caroline would be a star and then soon be on that show 'Where Are They Now?' _All the confusion and all the thinking made me dizzy and I needed to get away.

"Excuse me, guys," I said before getting up. Ryan looked a bit worried and so did Tom, but I ignored it and excused myself to the bathroom. It was completely empty so I was okay to talk to myself out loud. "What is going on? Why won't this dream end?"

I started to get dizzier and dizzier until I stumbled to try to get to the door. Sadly, I didn't make it two steps when I blacked out.

I wasn't sure how long it was black, but suddenly I heard voices. And a _beeping _sound. It was weird and kind of annoying. The voices got louder and clearer as my dizziness cleared up and I could finally make out the words they were saying.

"She's waking up!"

"Finally!"

I flittered my eyes open to see Elena, John, Jenna and Stefan looking over at me. It was crazy bright and had that disinfecting smell I absolutely hated with burning passion. I had finally woken up from my crazy dream. And I knew, somehow, Elena wasn't the only doppelganger here. I stared at Stefan with a weird look and tried to put the pieces together. _I drew a picture of Stefan's face, but the name of Silas on top. I've had a dream of a person that looks exactly like Stefan. They all look exactly like Stefan. Either a dad was very busy with other women or Stefan's got some doppelgangers._

"What's going on?" I asked, voice cracking. It sounded very dry and very yucky. I realized there was a small, skinny tube thing that was in my nose, pushing oxygen in. I tried to use my hand to move it, but it felt like it weight a million pounds.

"Courtney, thank god you're awake!" Elena rejoiced, clapping her hands. It wasn't like Elena to be the happy, cheery type. At least not anymore. She use to be cheerleader all full of pep, but now she didn't clap her hands unless she was really, _really _happy about something.

_Wait, why am I in a hospital? I'm supposed to be in my bed at home. And what does she mean I'm finally awake? I know my dream lasted long, but it couldn't have been that long? Maybe just a night and a little sleeping in 'till noon? Nothing big, right?_

"Elena, please explain."

Everyone looked happy to see me yet still a bit worried. After moments of utter silence (except for that excruciating beeping), Elena finally replied.

"Courtney, you've been in a coma for almost a week."


	21. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty**

I stared at them all with wide eyes. She couldn't be serious. The dream was long, I got that, but a coma for almost a whole week? What was she trying to pull? A prank? "Elena, what in the hell that Satan rules are you talking about?"

Everyone sat down quietly as Elena started to explain to me what was going on. "You disappeared when Damon came back and I thought you went back to your room to sleep. But when I went home, you weren't there, so I just assumed you were with someone else, like Caroline or Tyler or Matt. So, the next day, you still didn't come back and I assumed that you wanted to get away for a while since all the drama was crazy and consuming. I tried to call your phone but you didn't pick up and that's when I started getting worried. Then, while Damon was thinking of a plan, he found you in one of the spare rooms. You've been in a coma for a while after he took you to the hospital and then officially declared that you were in comatose."

I stared at Elena for a second, wait for her to say that she's just kidding. That they're all playing a joke because I, of all people, couldn't fall into a coma. It just didn't work that way; at least, that's what I thought.

"Courtney, say something," Jenna begged.

Instead of saying anything, I ripped the cords from my body and tried to get up. Stefan was the first (since he was a vampire) to try and stop me from getting up. He gently pushed me back, but forceful enough to actually push me back. I repeatedly tried to get up, but Elena, Jenna and Stefan all stopped my attempts. I guess I was just too weak. I finally gave up and just groaned.

"I have to get out of here. I'm not lying here while everything is going on. I'm getting out of this hospital with your help or not."

"Courtney, you have to stay a little longer, alright? They need to run tests." When I looked at Stefan, Tom came to my mind. How is that even possible? Stefan didn't have any children (that I knew of), so that wouldn't make sense unless they were cousins or something. Maybe Damon had children? No, it had to directly come from Stefan, not his brother.

"I need to tell—"

"Tell who what?" Elena inquired, suddenly interested. I wanted to get up so I could go talk to Katherine, but I had a feeling they weren't going to let me be any time soon, so that was crossed off the list. I would tell Tyler, but he had no idea of the whole thing about vampires. I just couldn't deal with Caroline or Bonnie, Elena would look into too much, Stefan was just not on my good side at the time and Damon wouldn't listen. It was almost like I needed to talk to the guy himself; Ryan. He was dead, wasn't he? He died when we were first together so that meant if I just thought of seeing him, he'd appear. That was how it worked with everyone else, wasn't it? Elena suddenly suggested, "Sure, tell me about your dream." This broke me out of my daze to actually look at them.

"I'm actually feeling tired," I lied, lying farther back down into the hospital bed which was oddly comfortable.

"You were just fighting to get up," John protested, not believing me for a second.

"You're right! I'm not tired. I just want to see my doctor," I demanded, dropping the whole tired act. I just woke up from almost a week of sleeping, it's not like I would go back to it five minutes after waking up.

"Okay, I'll go get him," Jenna offered with a smile. I smiled back at her because she was actually doing something I wanted. She got up to go get the doctor and Elena and Stefan bombarded me with questions and answers.

Elena said, "John's our father!"

Stefan asked, "What did you dream about?"

Elena said, "We made a deal with Elijah, but then stabbed him with the dagger to kill an Original but only as long as it's in his heart."

"We know who Klaus is and Elijah wanted to make a deal with Elena to keep her away from Klaus so he doesn't use her in a sacrifice."

"Elijah wants his brother dead."

They all stopped talking when Jenna came back with the doctor right behind her. Meredith Fell was standing behind Jenna with a clipboard in hand. It was about damn time for them to come because I was annoyed with everything they were just shouting at me. It's not like I could hear everything they said, especially when they're saying it faster than needed and all at the same time.

"Courtney, I understand you want to get out, but you need to stay overnight. We need to run some tests and see why you went into a coma. You look pretty fine to me, honestly, but we can't be totally sure by the whole thing." Meredith opened her mouth to say more, but all I heard was nothing. Did she really think I would stay here? Hell no, I was getting out as fast as I could. I wasn't going to wait no whole night.

"Okay," I said neutrally. _I really hope I'm strong enough to perform the compulsion spell because that would seriously suck if I couldn't. Then I'd probably stay in the hospital. _"I guess I'm stuck here for today."

"I'm sorry, Courtney, it's just procedure," Meredith sighed, but I waved her off. "And also a part of procedure, you guys need to leave. I need to have her alone when we do the tests. So you have to go in a few minutes."

"Alright," Jenna nodded grabbing her things. Elena, Stefan and John followed her actions and agreed. "Courtney, I'll come pick you up tomorrow."

John corrected, "_We'll _come pick you up." Jenna rolled her eyes at John and kissed me on the forehead. John winked and Elena did the same thing as Jenna and Stefan just stood by the door awkwardly. I tried not to feel like it didn't hurt that he was standing by the door and not over here trying to make me feel better, but he wasn't mine to feel bad about. He was my sister's and I needed to respect that no matter how much it hurt me to. Stefan was completely and forever Elena's and I just had to deal with that.

I didn't say anything, all I did was nod. They walked out with nothing else to say, except Meredith. "I'm sorry you can't go home, now," she apologized. I ignored her and just stared at my hands. I wasn't strong enough to complete the spell, so I needed some kind of outlet.

"Meredith," I called out, when she was about to walk out the door. "Could you get me some water?"

"Sure," she agreed with a smile. She walked out the door quickly to go get my water. I was thankful the staff was so caring and quick to get you what you wanted. It was something I really admired about my little town's personality; the kind people. It was just too bad it had rotten people like Katherine and I living in it. _Mystic Falls is way too innocent, although, the name is kind of asking for it…_

Meredith came back with the water a few minutes later. She handed it to me softly and said if I needed anything, I only needed to call. I nodded and started drinking so she could see that I was fine. When she left, I stopped drinking and put my hand in the water. Focusing on the power of the water, it felt like I was drawing power from it. I felt more regenerated and more powerful since I was able to draw power from normal _earthly _things.

As soon as I took my hand from the water, I dried it off and then called for Meredith again. She came back looking flustered. "Okay, there's something in my eye and I need you to look at it," I lied smoothly, blinking my right eye continuously. Meredith looked like she was annoyed, but she followed my request anyway and got close to me. She stared into my eye. _"Compulsion_ _est amicus tuus," _I whispered to myself and Meredith's eyes went blank. "Now, get me out of here."

* * *

><p>I walked out of the hospital with a big smile on my face. I was finally out of that hell and my first stop was the Salvatore household. I was going to visit Katherine first, but I decided that I needed to talk to Stefan. He was the one who took a chance with me and then walked all over me when he went running back to Elena. What an asshole, I know.<p>

I thought of standing in front of the boarding house and there I suddenly was, walking up the steps. Instead of knocking on the door like I should have, I just walked into the house like it was mine.

"Salvatore, get your ass down here before I come up and pound it myself," I yelled up to him, making myself comfortable on their couch. It was a nice place by the hearth, even though it wasn't lit. I could just think of lying here with some tea in a mug with your boyfriend and you just talk as you hear the crackling of the fire. You could fall asleep next to them and it'd be so peaceful.

Damon was in front of me instantly after I called up to them. "What did I do?" he inquired, while pouring himself a drink across from me.

"Nothing, exactly," I said.

"Then you're calling for Stefan?" he questioned before taking a sip and I nodded. He looked confused (I couldn't blame him), but he didn't ask any more questions. All he did was walk up the stairs with his glass and seconds later, Stefan was there.

"Courtney, I—"

I put my hand up to stop him. "Yeah, yeah, save it, Salvatore. It doesn't matter because you're coming with me." I got up from the couch, grabbed Stefan's arm and dragged him behind me as I walked out the door. I called up to Damon just in case, "Damon, don't follow us! And we're not doing what you think we're doing!" Then Stefan and I were out the door, walking towards the woods.

We stopped when we were about ten feet into the woods outside their house. I leaned on a tree with my arms crossed. Stefan looked regretful and worried. "Courtney, I know everything has been hectic and I didn't get to see you much after I got out," Stefan started, but he didn't get to finish.

"Stefan, you are a certified motherfucker." I shook my head at him. "You told me that you had some kind of feelings for me, then you kissed me, slept with me and next thing I know, you're running off to Elena again. Way to break my heart."

"Courtney, I know that I hurt you—"

"Hurt me? When I saw you two together, kissing on Elena's bed, I wasn't hurt. I was fucking destroyed! It felt like you took my heart and then shit all over it. And you didn't even care. You continued to kiss Elena when I walked out that door and didn't give two shits about what you were doing to me. I know that I'm not always the most lovable person because I'm all sarcastic and mean-funny, but seriously? Do I really deserve to have my heart broken?"

Stefan sighed and looked down at his feet. I thought he would try to apologize and beg for my forgiveness, but instead he got defensive. "You knew that we were taking a chance when we slept together. You knew that we couldn't be together because it would break Elena and she'd—"

I yelled, "She'd what, Stefan? Go running to Damon?" Stefan looked guilty yet angry at the same time. Apparently, he didn't like it when someone talked about Elena and Damon together, even though that's how it was going to end. "Because it's so horrible for Elena to be with someone, but you. So let's make sure that Elena stays with you and only you even though she could be happy with Damon. Because Damon doesn't deserve to be happy with Elena."

"Courtney, it's not like that," Stefan denied firmly. I didn't listen though; I just rolled my eyes.

"Everything has to go your way, doesn't it? Stefan's got to have this; Stefan's to go to have that. If Stefan doesn't get what he wants, the world will end. Well, suck it up, Steffers because—"

I was interrupted by the feeling of lips on mine. They were moving violently, yet slowly. I guessed it was the asshole Stefan (since he was the only one with me) who was trying to make everything better with his stupid soft lips. (Honestly, I was feeling a little bit better. Mind you, all he was doing was kissing me.)

I let myself indulge myself with the bliss of Stefan's lips. _You get three seconds, Courtney. One, two, three. _I pushed him away from me firmly and put on a scowl even if I really wanted to smile. My emotions were all over the place. I wanted him to kiss me more, hold me and tell me that I was the one, but at the same time I wanted to tell him what an asshole I thought he was and continue to be mad at him. After the kiss, I had the emotional range of a pregnant woman.

"Stefan fucking Salvatore, you do not get to do that to me!" I yelled, not even caring if someone heard us. "You do not get to kiss me, break me and then kiss me again while I'm screaming at you. Are you that selfish?"

"Courtney, I'm sorry!"

I screamed back, "I know you are." We both took a breath and stopped yelling at each other. I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream at him even more (but my voice was fading from all the yelling). I wanted to break something or throw my pillow around. But most of all, I wanted someone to tell me that I wasn't just something they could use and then throw to the side. I wanted someone to tell me that I was number _one _to them and that they'd do anything for me. Because I would do anything for the people I called _friends, _but it felt like Elena would always come first before me.

Stefan started to say, "Courtney…"

I put my hand up and softly asked, "If you break a plate and say sorry to it, is the plate fixed?" Stefan said nothing, but I could tell, by his eyes, that he was saying 'no.' "Exactly. You can't just break my heart and then say sorry."

With that, I walked away from Stefan and left him in the woods to think about our fight. As I walked out of the woods, I found Damon standing with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. When he saw me walking towards him, he opened his arms. I finally got to him and I wrapped my arms around his neck tightly and his arms were around my waist, securely.

"What was that all about?"

I mumbled into his ear, "I made the mistake you did. I wanted something I couldn't have."

"Courtney, Stefan, really?" he mumbled back.

I pulled away so he could see me nod my head. (It was weird because he's taller than me and I had to stand on the tips of my toes.) He shook his and guided me towards the door of the boarding house.

I sat down on the couch as he poured me a drink.

"No, we're going to my room," Damon said, and I followed him up. I sat on his bed, which was made up. I looked at my surroundings and concluded that they looked exactly the same as when I was here with Rose. "Courtney, what the hell were you thinking?"

I voice cracked many times as I spoke, "That's the thing: I wasn't. He just came into my room, claiming that he had feelings for me and then he totally just kissed me and I kissed him back. We had a little fun, he got stuck in the tomb and then went running back to Elena. So basically, I took a chance on someone I knew I could never have."

"I knew there was something freaky going on between you two," Damon murmured quietly to himself. I agreed with him since he did give me that knowing look when we walked in the boarding house together after we had our "fun time" together. He returned to his normal loud voice. "Okay, so you love him. He doesn't love you. He loves your sister and your sister loves him."

I added, "And you love her."

This time, Damon didn't deny it at all. "So we're all in love with someone that is never going to work out, Stefan vampire, Elena human, and we are all trying to protect Elena at the same time. You know what we need to do?"

"What?" I asked.

"What we—" he gestured between him and me. "–really need to do is become friends with benefits, Courtney."

I started laughing after that. It was funny that he thought I would sleep with his bitch ass. He must have been kidding. Then I realized he wasn't.

"You're serious?" I asked incredulously.

"I want Elena. She has Stefan. You want Stefan. He has Elena. So that just leaves you and me alone…for each other."

"You know in that movie, they become attached, right?"

"But we are in love with two other people," Damon argued. "And I really need someone to talk to."

I laughed. "Then talk to me as your friend. Damon, I'm not going to sleep with you."

"But why?" he whined. "I want to sleep with you. We don't need to have feelings. You can come over, we can do the dirty and then you can go back to mourning over Stefan. Sound good?"

"Yeah," I agreed and Damon sighed in relief. Then I added, "Except for the part where we do the dirty."

"Courtney Gilbert, I want you really badly," he deadpanned, staring at me right in the eye. I mocked his actions with exaggeration.

"Damon Salvatore, you only want me because I look like Elena. I'm not going to sleep with you if you don't actually want me for me."

"Oh, but I do. I want those sexy curves and I want to run my hands though those sexy waves," he growled seductively and I played along. "I want to see what's under that shirt. And what kind of animal you are in the bed."

"I can tell you this," I said just as seductively, "I am much more aggressive than Elena could ever be." Damon grabbed me by my waist and pulled me close.

"Then kiss me." He leaned in to kiss me on the lips and I just turned my head.

"But you see the thing is Damon, I don't want to kiss you." Damon groaned at his failed attempts to get me to be his "friend with benefits."

Believe me, I found Damon very attractive, but I just couldn't. Sure, Stefan was dating Elena, but I knew it would never last. I just shipped _Delena _too hard. I wasn't going to sleep with my sister's future husband. Even if I had to compel them to love each other, I would. Damon was the bad that Elena's life needed. He was the adventure to her story. The Jack to her Rose. They were perfect for each other; opposites do attract, you know.

"Courtney, kiss me."

"No."

"Kiss me."

"No."

"Kiss me."

"Fucking. No."

"Kiss me, woman."

"No!"

"Courtney Gilbert, I swear I will compel you to kiss me."

"No, you won't," I denied. But I underestimated Damon's motive.

He looked into my eyes and said, "You will kiss me."

And I motherfucking did.

Compulsion still worked on me even though I was a supernatural occurrence. But the worse part wasn't the kiss or the compulsion.

I motherfucking liked it.

He didn't have to compel me to do the rest.

* * *

><p>"I am so going to hell," I groaned after laying in the bed next to Damon for a few seconds. "I slept with Stefan and now you? Both the brothers? Ugh, I'm turning into her."<p>

"Don't worry, you're way cooler than Katherine. Plus, you are just a bit more muscular than her." Damon assured me, wrapping his arms around my bare waist. He growled playfully, "I like that." He kissed me roughly and I kissed back just as aggressively.

"I know. I work out. I'm sexy and I know it."

"And I know it too."

"Damon, how often are we going to do this?"

He shrugged. "As often as we want."

"So we can do it again right now?"

"Come here, baby."

* * *

><p><strong>Awkward and short chapter, I know. But I don't know how to feel right now. I saw Divergent on Saturday with my friend and I was so in awe. Before, I thought Divergent was just a second rate Hunger Games, but I was so fucking wrong. I wish I could have updated before Saturday because I was reading the book Divergent all day yesterday because I was addicted. I finished it and now I'm on the second book. I'm so obsessed, I looked up the dates when the other two movies in the series will release and I marked it on my calendar. Now I'm like thinking only Divergent and this other book, The Fault in Our Stars.<strong>

**So, to fuck us up, the put The Fault in Our Stars trailer just before they played Divergent in the movie theaters and I was like, "Waaatt?" The guy who plays Caleb in Divergent plays Gus in The Fault in Our Stars with Shailene Woodley who plays Tris and Hazel in TFiOS. I was like, "What the actual fuck? Why the hell would they do that? Now the whole movie I'mma be thinking about how they should kiss, but they're brother and sister."**

**Anyway,**

**THEY'RE FINALLY MAKING A MOVIE FOR THE FAULT IN OUR STARS. I MOTHERFUCKING LOVE THAT BOOK, IT MADE ME CRY LIKE A BITCH, BUT I STILL LOVE IT. THANK YOU GOD FOR MAKING A MOVIE BASED OFF SUCH A FUCKING AMAZING BOOK. TFiOS! TFiOS! TFiOS! TFiOS! TFiOS! BITCHES, I CANNOT FUCKING WAIT UNTIL IT COMES OUT. WHEN THE TRAILER PLAYED, I CRIED BECAUSE I FUCKING LOVE IT SO MUCH. BUT SERIOUSLY THOUGH, THIS MOVIE WILL HAVE ME CRYING LIKE A FUCKING BITCH. I'M GOING TO ASK FOR A CUP JUST FOR MY TEARS.**

**That is all.**

**Katherineismikaelson.**


	22. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

I felt like I was drowning. My lungs were burning and my mouth was filled with something; I don't know. Whatever it was, it wouldn't let me breathe in. I couldn't move or hear or see anything but the lights above me. They were too bright for my eyes, so I had to close my them most of the time.

Then someone said something. "Courtney, are you alright? Courtney! Courtney!" I felt like I was being shaken, but I still didn't open my eyes. I was afraid to see something I didn't want to see. I was afraid I was going to wake up surrounded by dead bodies. I wasn't sure why I was so afraid of this whole thing, but I was. "Courtney, get up! Now! Courtney!" It sounded like a man's voice who was calling me. I wracked my brain to think of someone who I knew that was a man, but no one came up but _Silas_. And I knew that I didn't want to see Silas.

The shaking and the yelling didn't stop for a second. I tried to think of why they would be doing this, but nothing came up once again. For all I knew, I was completely alone in life except for the people I killed and the earth I channeled.

I was scared to open my eyes.

I was confused as to why this was even happening.

"Courtney Gilbert, don't leave me now!"

I realized that for some reason, this person knew me and they cared for me on some level if they were this panicked, so I did exactly what I didn't want to do. I opened my eyes to see dead bodies. The blinding light was gone and was replaced with a dull shimmer. I could just barely make out the dead bodies with blood on their chins and stomachs. I wasn't sure about the angle I was looking at, I just knew that I could see everything. The bodies were stacked up in a pile and on the top, there was a girl. I knew her somehow.

I knew her because she looked like me.

I gasped and tried to walk away from the bodies, but I couldn't move. It was like I was glued to that spot.

"I thought you loved me," the girl on the top of the pile whispered, "I thought you cared about your own sister."

I didn't know what she was talking about. _Sister? _I didn't have a sister.

"I thought you loved me. You _loved _me."

"Who are you?"

"Tatia," she answered in a small voice. "My name is Tatia."

With one more gasp, I closed my eyes from the scene. I couldn't bear to see their sad, scared faces covered in blood a second longer. It was frightening and scarring. There was no unseeing what I had just saw.

"Courtney! Wake up!"

I opened my eyes again to see Damon's face staring down at me. He looked worried and scared, like something had happened. He was still half naked, but he was leaning over me like we didn't just have sex, but he just found me lying unconscious. Maybe I was unconscious at one point, but I was definitely awake now. When Damon saw me blinking and breathing, he sighed at the sight. "Oh, thank you, God!" he said. I was confused; Damon didn't usually thank God for anything. If he did this time, something must have definitely happened that scared him.

I asked, blinking the sleep out of my eyes, "Damon, what's going on?" I couldn't remember anything but the night before. We had just confirmed we were friends with benefits, and then we slept together. After that, we had a brief talk and then fell asleep in each other's arms. There was no memory of the dream I had…that was _if _I even had a dream.

"Courtney, you stopped breathing. You started whispering and shaking your head. You were so cliché for a moment," Damon explained, still sounding nervous. He cupped my face in his hand like he was afraid I'd fall apart right in front of him. "I thought you were dying."

I sighed and held on to his arms. He lay back down on his side, but he still stared at me with commitment. "Damon, I'm fine. I can't even remember my dream. And what are you going on about?"

"I mean, I wake up to hearing you quicken your breathing, and then I see you shaking your head and whispering. If I didn't know any better, I would think you were being possessed. Seriously, what just happened?"

I was taken back. _What shit is he going on about? I'm fine. I had a dream (that I don't remember) and then I woke up to see him leaning over me like I was a piece of lint and he had to squint to see me. Seriously, this guy is like obsessed with me._

"Damon, I'm fine. I just need to get some clothes on, and go and see what is happening with my sister and her boyfriend. I need to know about this whole Elijah thing that happened while I was out in a coma," I said, faking a smile. "Speaking of a coma, why weren't you there to see me?"

Damon laughed humorlessly and turned away from my gaze. "Courtney, you're my best friend. I might even love you more than I love my own brother. I can laugh with you, and talk to you like a normal person. You talk to me like we've been friends forever and that I'm not a guy who's killed hundreds of people just for the hell of it. You treat me normally. I love that you do that for me. I don't want to see my best friend lying in a hospital bed, helpless from doing anything because she's in a sleep so deep, Aurora is jealous. So sorry if I didn't want to see you that way."

I got his angle, I really did. But then again, I would have wanted my 'best friend' to wait there like everyone else for me to wake up. But no, he had to be drinking at home while the man who broke my heart was lying at my feet, listening to my breaths. You could see that I was kind of mad, but at the same time touched by his feelings.

"Well, I need to go get my shirt on, and go back home," I concluded after a second of silence. I was ready to get out of this whole awkward situation that was going on with Damon and me.

"I'm coming with you then," he agreed.

"What? No. Damon, I can get to my house on my own," I denied, looking around for my shirt.

"Courtney, I just saw you have a supernatural seizure. I'm not letting you go to your house by yourself. I'm coming with you."

I sighed when I knew that I was going to lose this battle. Before I got far, I saw someone walk in with a familiar face. Literally, my face. Elena stood at the doorway with a surprised look on her face and felt the sudden urge to hug her. So, that's exactly what I did. I pushed Damon out of the way and I threw my arms around my sister, who I saw the day before. I wasn't sure what came over me

Without even knowing, I whispered, "Thank god you're okay."

Elena hugged me back reluctantly, but eventually she wrapped her arms around me. I could hear the confused look on her face (yeah, I told you I could hear emotions). "Courtney, of course I'm okay. Are you okay?"

"No, she's not," Damon answered for me. I broke the hug to turn around and look at Damon. I shot him a 'shut up' look, but he continued, "I woke up to seeing her having a seizure. I can't tell if she's okay or not."

Elena turned me around to look at her. "Courtney, are you okay? Tell me that you're okay?"

"Elena, I'm fine," I answered, pulling my face out of her hands. She always worried about me too much, yet sometimes not enough. "What are you doing here?"

"What are _YOU _doing here?"

"Damon and I had a movie marathon," I lied convincingly, but Elena shook her head.

"Nope, Stefan brought me back here after we locked Elijah up. I saw his body."

"Wait, what about Elijah?" I inquired. What new news was this? No one told me that Elijah was dead? Did they get him with the white oak? _Shit, Klaus is not going to like this… _"When did he die?"

Damon and Elena ignored my question…as usual. "Speaking of that," Damon started, "Katherine's out of the tomb."

"What?"

"Yeah, basically when an Original dies, all compulsion wears off," Damon clarified.

"Great, now a bitch is out," Elena mumbled angrily.

I cut in, "Excuse me, will someone listen to me and answer my questions. Elena, when did Elijah die? How is he dead? And why is he dead? Damon, when did you see Katherine? Why did you see Katherine? And where is she?"

Elena and Damon both stopped being in their own little worlds and actually answered me for the first time.

Elena: "I daggered him with some dagger John gave Damon. He's dead because we can't trust him with a deal. It's too risky."

Damon: "I saw her while you were sleeping and went to lock up Elijah while you were sleeping. Now I've discovered you are a very heavy sleeper. And she's Katherine; you'll never know where she is."

Me: "Okay, I'm going to find her."

Elena stood in my way. "Not before you answer my question; why were you here in the first place?"

"I told you, Damon and I had a movie marathon," I replied, sticking to my story even though it was probably going to fail.

But apparently, Damon didn't give a shit. "We slept together. We're friends with benefits now."

Elena's eyes widened and she looked surprise. Honestly, I wouldn't've. Damon and I were bound to happen at some time. I mean, we share everything together, why not a bed? "Oh," she sighed. "I guess it would have happened sooner or later."

"So, why were you here?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

Elena's face turned bashful. "Stefan and I spent the night together." My acting skills came in when I pretended to be happy for her. Damon just stood there as we mused as girls together with a knowing look on his face. He knew I was acting and inside I was really wanted to smack Elena and tell her what Stefan and I did together. But I wasn't that kind of sister. I was going to support her no matter what. Stefan and I were in the past. Apparently, our relationship meant nothing to him.

Suddenly, Damon had Elena against the wall. "Katherine, I should have known. I thought I told you to leave."

I was suddenly up on him, throwing him away from Elena. I protected her behind me. "Damon, what are you doing?" I realized what I had just done was something not even a witch could do. Damon was a vampire and I was just a witch. I hadn't used my powers on him or anything, I was just mad that he touched my sister.

"It's Katherine," he spat. Damon was right back to choking Elena and I let him. There was a possibility that she was Katherine but I couldn't be completely sure. In a few seconds tops, Stefan was in the room too.

"What's going on here?" he demanded, staring at Damon's hands around Elena's neck.

"He thinks I'm Katherine," Elena/Katherine spit out between breaths.

"Why?"

"Because she's out of the tomb."

"Damon, I'm not Katherine," Elena said again.

"Wait, Elena, you were just with me," Stefan recalled, looking confused.

"No, remember, I went to get a towel." Stefan and Damon were suddenly out the room and into another one. I looked at Elena/Katherine. She looked pretty much like Elena until that Katherine smirk was back on her face. "It is so easy being her."

I was still mad at her for her behavior, so I ignored her.

"Courtney, I'm sorry. I know that I was a bitch, just thinking about myself, but I really do love you. You're my daughter. Even if you were created to kill me," Katherine whined.

I snapped back, "Not here."

"Fine. But later, definitely."

Katherine was out of the room too and I was alone with myself. _I need some peace of mind. I need to get away from this place. Away from all this drama. But where will I go? _I looked for Damon's phone and I found it under a pile of clothes. I looked up _towns in Michigan _and found a little one called Arcadia. _I want to go to Arcadia, Michigan._

When I opened my eyes, I was standing in a park. It looked like the one back in Pennsylvania where I met Klaus. I tried to look for anyone that looked friendly and spotted a girl with her friends. She was a tall, African-American girl with big curly hair and a nice flat stomach. She looked like the athletic, yet smart type, so I decided it was going to be her.

She stared at a boy, who was staring back at her with loving eyes. I walked up to the girl and sat next to her. "You guys have something going on?"

She didn't act how I expected her to act. She just answered my question. "He goes to another school. Our rival school. They're just visiting for a game, so I don't have a chance at all."

"Ah, but don't you know?" This statement caused her to look at me. "Forbidden love is always the best. Just take Romeo and Juliet for example."

"They both committed suicide."

"Take their love, not their ending. It was so beautiful, a story, play, many movies and many loves were like it. I say take what you want, and don't look back."

She looked at me funnily, but still nodded. "Ani." She held out a hand for me and I took it.

"Courtney."

"So how about you? Got anyone special?" she asked. The boy and his friends had walked away by that time and Ani's friends let us talk. "I mean, you seem like a pretty straight forward girl."

"He is a douche. I have a twin sister, you see," I explained, "And he likes the both of us. Sad thing is, she had him first. When they were on a break, he admitted that he had feelings for me, and we kind of did the dirty. Then a few days later he's back with my sister. Guys are confusing as fuck."

Ani nodded in agreement. "They really are."

"Ani?" I looked her straight into the eyes and whispered, "_Compulsion_ _est amicus tuus." _Her eyes went blank and that's when I knew I had her attention. "You are going to listen to my problems, and give me advice. When we are done, you are not going to tell anyone. Then we'll have a regular girls day, alright?"

"Sure, but what are you doing?" she agreed. She looked scared because she was doing this, but I wanted her to know everything. I needed someone outside of the whole Mystic Falls stuff, and she seemed like the perfect girl to talk to.

"Come on, let's go." I waved her up, and she walked with me. When her friends called her back over, she said that she was going to go catch up with her long-time friend (me).

"So, why and how are you doing this?"

"Ani, do you believe in the supernatural?"

She looked confused. "No…"

"Well, you should, because I'm a witch."

* * *

><p>"So, that motherfucker told you that he loved you, but then he lied about hunting down your sister?" Ani asked, literally sitting on the edge of her seat in the coffee shop.<p>

I nodded.

"That bitch," she exclaimed before taking a sip of her coffee. "And then you left his sorry ass?"

"Damn right, I did!"

"Good, because I wouldn't have put up with that lying shit either. I know everything with the doppelganger being your sister, and your colossal bitch of a mother needs your help is important, but the whole guy thing pisses me off the most. Seems like you've been nothing but a sweetheart to them and then they fuck you over? Uh, uh, that's just not right. Your sister and friends basically lied to you for almost a year, you meet your gigantic excuse for a mother who wants to kill your sister, your ex who you actually thought had redemption was tracking down your sister the whole time you two were together, and then you go back home to find that everyone is still fawning over Elena, and you still haven't killed every single one of those motherfuckers? And to add onto that, you find out that you're supposed to assassinate your sister, and your mother's still self-centered? And your 'friends' still care about Elena more? What about you? Isn't that hard on you?"

I replied. "Yes, it is. I love my sister, and if she gets killed, I don't want to be the one to do it." Ani nodded while taking a sip. "If I told one of my friends back home about my feelings, they'd either say that I'm being a baby or that some people have it worse."

Ani scoffed loudly. "Bullshit! Saying you can't be sad because some people have it worse is just like saying you can't be happy because some people have it better."

"Exactly! But they are all just taken by Elena. Under her spell."

"You know what I say? I say fuck them. Just live your life out, girl. You can be happy without them," Ani concluded.

"But that's the thing. My head is telling me I should go, but my heart is saying I should stay and fight with them. Instead of lying and leaving, I should be a better person than them."

Ani rolled her eyes. "Tell your heart to shut the fuck up and let yourself be happy. Being there, with them, is only going to bring you grief and sadness. I can already tell. Better now to move out of the line of fire before you get shot."

I nodded and agreed with her. She was right; all I was going to get from them was pain. It was all about Elena; everyone only cared about Elena, so she was guaranteed to live. Katherine was too wrapped up in Stefan world to care about me. Damon and Stefan were wrapped around Elena's finger, so were Jeremy, Bonnie, and Caroline and Tyler was MIA. There was no point in going back to get hurt.

"Where would I go?"

Ani thought for a second before saying, "You seem really funny and awesome. Let's make a deal: it's my senior year and I'm about to get out. When I finish, we're going to move to Ireland, I can take online college and we can go from there. I'll pursue my modeling career and you'll be a writer. Call it _The Vampire Diaries, _and you'll sell millions of copies. We'll get husbands, part ways, yet still see each other weekly, and then die. It'll be the perfect life. You won't have to worry about anything about the doppelgangers, vampires, witches or werewolves again. Sound like a plan?"

_I can be happy. If I just let go of my life in Mystic Falls and leave all the supernatural drama behind. Of course I'd be breaking hearts, but they broke mine first. Am I really that bad? Hell yeah, it's my happiness I'm thinking about. Plus, they won't even know I'm gone. They'll be too busy sucking on Elena's dick._

"Give me your number, and we'll set this up," I agreed. Ani smiled and laughed.

"We're going to fucking rule."

"Yes, we really are, aren't we?"

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry, guys. I've just had a lot of tests going on at school so I've been having to study. I hope to get another LONGER update soon, so hopefully I'll be able to see you soon. Thanks for all the comments and follows and support. Thanks! Really guys, when I see a comment, I'm all happy and giddy inside. Okay, bye and thanks again.<strong>

**katherineismikaleson**


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

"You're parents are the coolest people I've ever met," I commented as I got out the shower. Ani nodded as she looked for some clothes I could borrow from her. After coffee, she took me to her house for dinner, I met her awesome parents (seriously, they are the most interesting and funny people I've ever met), and I slept over. Ani's parents, Gavin and Mariana, were totally cool with me staying over even though they had never seen me in their lives. I didn't even have to compel them!

"I know. They had me pretty young, so they understand. Yet they still won't let me have a boyfriend so I end up like them," Ani answered, holding out a simple blue dress for me. "I thought blue would look good on you."

"Thank you." I took the dress, quickly put my underwear back on and then slipped on the dress. I looked at myself in the mirror and realized how fucking awesome I looked. I truly did look very pretty in the dress to be honest, and I loved it. I had to admit, Ani did have my kind of style in her closet. She was wearing a purple lace shirt with black skinny jeans and multicolored Vans.

"I think some heels would look good with that, don't you think?" Ani held out some cute black pumps and I took them willingly. When I put the shoes on, the outfit was complete. "And I can wash these dirty clothes. Honestly, I don't even think I want to touch them."

"Yeah, I did the dirty with Damon and then I didn't even take a shower. I'm a badass," I joked, "but now I'm happy I got to get in the shower, even if it wasn't mine."

"I'm glad you feel that way, but I need to get going to school," Ani realized as she looked at her watch. I nodded, and then I walked over to her jewelry, picked out a ring, and decided I'd wear it. Ani looked at me in the mirror trying it on, and she smiled.

"Okay, I'll get out of your hair so you can go to school, and get an education while I deal with douchebags at home." I waved goodbye before I walked out her room, and down the stairs.

Ani called down before I opened the door, "I'll be in touch!" It surprised me that I didn't see her dad because Ani told me he mostly worked from home, but I guess it was good since I didn't have to explain why I was leaving _Ani's _house with _Ani's _clothes. I was just going to use compulsion on them anyway.

Once I got out of the house, I walked down their driveway with a smile on my face. There weren't many people to see me disappear into thin air to go back to Mystic Falls. I was back in the Salvatore house.

I saw Katherine standing in the living room drinking something that resembled blood. "Kitty Kat, they haven't kicked you out yet," I called out, announcing my presence. Katherine turned around to see me smiling in the new dress I had gotten from my friend. "So why are you still here?"

"I'm helping out," she answered, and I laughed.

"Katherine Pierce helping someone one out? Wait, am I dreaming? Because I know that selfish bitch wouldn't make any effort to help anyone else but herself. I learned that the hard way."

Katherine snapped, "Look, I know that you're angry at me, but you need to get over it. For the sake of the plan?"

I mumbled, "Винаги за вие и плана." _Always about you and the plan._

Katherine snapped again, "Глътни го нагоре, Raina. Просто го смуче и да можем да говорим за това по-късно." _Suck it up, Raina. Just suck it up and we can talk about it later._

I rolled my eyes, and walked out the room, downstairs where I could hear something going on. Katherine followed me down to the cells where we found Damon trying to set a dead Original on fire. "You're trying fire now?"

Damon turned around to see the both of us standing at the entrance. He glanced at the both of us, and then returned to trying to burn Elijah. "You didn't answer any of my calls."

"That's because I was ignoring them," I replied simply.

"If you're trying to get the dagger back, you're wasting your time," Katherine informed, while Damon stared at the body. "It's indestructible."

Damon replied, "No kidding." Damon turned back to look at Katherine and me. "How do you know so much about the Originals?"

"When spend 500 years running from one, you learn a few."

"So when I told you my plan about killing Elijah, why didn't you warn me that I might DIE if I did it myself?"

"All the rules, it's very confusing," Katherine lied.

"You knew I would die," Damon accused and Katherine made the dumbass mistake to walk into a closable cellar with a vampire with a blowtorch and a very pissed off daughter could close the door on them. _Of course, was I really the kind of person who would do that to her own mother?_ _I don't know, I guess we'll find out._

"Now, Damon—"

"Why are you still here?"

"You haven't forcibly removed me yet, so you really don't care if I stay do you?"

"You want a bet?" Damon held up the blowtorch to Katherine.

Katherine tried to play it cool, but I knew that she was slightly worried. "You wouldn't…"

Damon replied heartily, "Oh, but the thing is, I would."

Katherine's face dropped. "Damon, did Elijah tell you about his plan to kill Klaus?" I didn't care about Damon getting his revenge anymore; what Katherine had mentioned piqued my interest. "Damon, think. He wants Klaus dead, you want Klaus dead. I want Klaus dead. More than you. He's been chasing me for 500 years, and I want it to end. If I wasn't honest about helping, I'd be long gone by now, would I?" I knew Katherine was getting to him by then. She had a way of sweet-talking people into doing the things that she wanted them to do. No matter how much they hated her and how much shit she was in, Katherine always found a way to get what she wanted. And I had barely even known the girl a year. "You can hate me all you want, Damon, but we both want the same thing. And you know…I always get what I want…" She couldn't have said it better.

Damon lowered the blowtorch and sighed. I knew that Katherine wasn't going to be getting what she deserved anytime soon, but at least he was on edge about her. Katherine walked away from her spot, and opened her big mouth to say, "I was compelled to stay in there until he said I could come out…which we both know was going to happen when? Never. Of course I knew it was going to kill you, but then again, why do I care about your life when mine is on the line?"

_Can I get a bitch? Oh, wait, there's already one standing in front of me._

Damon didn't have a look of surprise on his face, only expectation. He knew that she didn't care anything about his life, and that she was going to do anything to save her own ass. We all knew that. I just wish I had noticed it sooner.

Katherine left the cellar, leaving Damon and I alone to talk. "Damon—"

"She really is a bitch, isn't she?"

I sighed. "Put the blowtorch down, and let's talk." Damon took a second before he followed my request. He shut the door behind us as we left, and we sat at the bottom of the stairs. "She is my mother."

"She is a bitch," Damon retorted, "I can't believe I ever felt something for her, even after I was a vampire. She's a deceitful little bitch and I wish I had never even met her."

"Hey, if you never met her, you wouldn't have met me," I pointed out hopeful. Damon nodded, but he didn't smile.

Then he mumbled, "Or Elena." I got up from my spot next to him, and tried to walk up the stairs, but Damon stopped me. "Was it something I said?"

"Sorry for being so selfish, but I thought we could talk about me for one minute," I said with a snarky attitude, "but now I realize how self-centered I am being. Elena's life is on the line; it's not like mine is linked to hers, or anything."

Damon pulled me down hard enough so I could fall on his lap. "Damon—"

"Courtney, I'm sorry. I forgot. And I'm a total dick for it, but you already knew that. But Courtney, cut me some slack. You know that I have something going for Elena and sometimes her life is just too important to me that I forget about the others that could get hurt. Courtney, I'm sorry. Please forgive me?" he asked in a pleading tone. I rolled my eyes at Damon, got off his lap, and sat next to him on the stairs, but I nodded anyway. Damon made a squealing noise that even surprised me, and hugged me tightly. _He really wants my forgiveness…probably so he knows that I'll still be his friend with benefits._

"But seriously Damon, can we talk about how _I _feel for a change?" He nodded and I sighed. "I'm scared. Not only for my life, but for my sister because she doesn't deserve to die. I wish this Klaus guy would leave us all alone. He's a selfish little prat. And while everyone is focused on _Elena _and what we're going to do for _Elena_, I'm on the side over here, feeling like I might cry any minute. So many people have died around me, and I just feel like the dead is taking over my life.

"First, my one and only true loves dies, and I date someone else right after him to get rid of the pain, who just cheats on me again. Next, my parents die in a car crash, the only survivor being my sister, who was saved by her eventual vampire boyfriend. Then vampires come to town who are already dead, and are walking around me like it's no big deal. When I leave, my dead vampire mother killed me, and I was a part of the undead too, but then I turn back into a human, but Katherine is there just to kill me again. I finally meet someone who made me feel the way Ryan did, and he turns out to be a rotten liar with an agenda that just clashes with mine.

"I come back to Mystic Falls to find everyone bending over backwards to spare her feelings and at the same time, save her life. And news flash: she doesn't want to be saved for some shit reason and we're all just fighting her. Next thing I know, I'm having clairvoyant dreams, and dreams of lives I would have had if I continued on with the life I use to have. But it doesn't matter my feelings. Let's all just play with them now, and then later shit on them like it's no big deal. Or pretend they're not there so we can focus on something more important: Saving Elena who's also my sister. But whatever, Courtney's not as important as she thinks she should be, so let's all ignore her and when she talks about her feelings, we'll just shrug them off. That's how you're all acting. That's how I fucking feel."

I hadn't realized that I was crying until I felt Damon wipe away a tear. "Courtney, I am so sorry you feel that way. I know I'd usually be saying something about Elena's life being on the line, but I can't bring myself to do it. Maybe it's because I just realized what a mofo I've been or how hurt you really are, but I really am sorry. I hate myself a bit for not noticing how _mean _I've been to you, and now all I want to do is make it up to you. Courtney, how can I make it up to you?"

"You can make me a super fantastic, ultra-awesome milkshake that makes everyone else jealous?"

* * *

><p>I sat in Damon's room, sipping the milkshake he willingly (ha! Not) made for me after I promised not to spill any on the floor. There was really nothing to do, since he had decided that he wasn't going to bother me with anything more about the sacrifice that day. I was bored out of my mind, but I was enjoying a nice drink.<p>

After I finished, I put the cup down, and started to look around Damon's room. There was nothing interesting to look at because it was mostly clean and organized. It's not like I was a pig, it was just that Damon kept his room more orderly than mine. I suddenly heard the piano being played (not in a beautiful way), and decided it was time to insert myself and make sure Katherine and Damon don't kill each other.

I walked down quietly to see Damon and Katherine arguing. Katherine said something about Emily Bennett, and a witch massacre which did catch Damon's interest.

"When a witch dies violently," Katherine began, "a mystical energy is released that marks the place of their death with power."

Damon followed Katherine over to a box and books on an end table. "Elijah wanted to know the site of the massacre."

I heard the door open behind me, and I turned to see Stefan walking through the door. I sent him my best smile, and in return I got a sad look. I knew there was going to be some awkwardness between us; I was just hoping he would at least try to get over it.

"What did papa witch and baby witch have to say?" Damon called out, knowing Stefan was there. Damon looked over; a look of surprised washed over his face when he saw me standing next to Stefan.

"Shouldn't she be gone…or dead by now?" Stefan asked. We all knew he was talking about Katherine, who looked ecstatic to see Stefan.

Katherine repeated, "For the last time, I'm here to help. Can we skip the secrets?" I agreed because I was just as lost as she was.

"Elijah had no weapon to kill Klaus," Stefan answered, walking past me. I stayed by the entrance, and said nothing. I was here just to listen. Usually, I would listen in and report back to Katherine, but looks like she's already got that covered. "He believed if a witch could channel enough power...they wouldn't need one."

"Like enough power from a spot marked by one hundred of dead witches," Damon finished.

"All we need to do is find it."

"Alright, hand me a journal," I called out, walking to the end table. I reached in the box, but Damon's hand stopped me. "Damon…"

"Courtney… I promised…" I knew Damon was referring to the promise he made me.

"Damon, I want to do this," I replied quietly. He still didn't look happy about it when he let me pick up a journal.

Katherine inquired, "What was that all about?" I rolled my eyes. "It was only a question."

"Take your questions, Katherine, and shove them up your ass." I sat on the couch, looking at a journal. No one said anything else as we looked through the journals. Stefan left after a while, and it was just Katherine, Damon, and me. No talking, nothing. We just exchanged looks, sighs, and eye rolls the whole time. I felt something in the air that made me tingle a bit; like someone else was there, we just couldn't see them. Maybe it was a ghost who didn't want to be seen, or I was just delusional. Either way, I shrugged it off, and kept reading silently.

It wasn't until Katherine decided that she wanted to look at Damon's journal when we started talking.

"Can I help you?" Damon asked sarcastically.

"I'm bored." Damon sighed. I did too. "'Emily Bennett was taken by the council today,'" Katherine read from the book, "'They took her from her home, and took her to the same location her ancestors were burned a hundred years ago.' So, Emily died on the site of the massacre. Does it say where?" Katherine reached for the book, but Damon pulled it away before she could get a good grasp.

"You know how you're playing this friendly, cooperative act?"

"Hmm?"

"I don't buy it. I don't believe you actually want to help us."

Katherine rolled her eyes. "I have no reason to lie to you, Damon."

"Lie," Damon accused quietly.

"Damon, she only helps when there's something for her in it," I said, not looking at either of them.

Katherine ignored me, and declared, "I'm hungry."

"You're the unwanted houseguest. Go feed yourself," I said, flipping the pages. Katherine did exactly that. She walked out the room, leaving only Damon and me. "Did you find anything?"

"Nope." Damon handed the book over to me and showed me a spot at the bottom. I smiled.

"Well, nothing in any of these," Stefan called, walking into the room. He dropped the journals on the end table, and asked the both of us, "Find anything?"

"Nope." Damon did the same thing for Stefan as he did for me.

"Well, that's too bad," Stefan replied, faking a disappointed tone. Their acting was good, just not as good as mine. I suddenly had a bad feeling, and Katherine's name slipped out of my mouth. I ran quickly down the stairs.

There was a bang down in the cellars, and Katherine called out for Damon. By the time we got down there, Katherine was already impaled with a stake, near her heart. She sat on the ground, leaning on a rock for support; holding onto the stake.

Damon pulled the stake out of Katherine while I thought about what just happened. _I felt something before, but it couldn't have been a ghost, could it? Ghosts can't touch anything from this world. So what was that?_

Before I knew what was happening, Damon pushed me out of the way, and was using the blowtorch on Elijah's body again. Just before I fell, someone caught me. That someone just had to be the youngest Salvatore sibling. He adjusted me upright, and we stared at each other for a second. Then Stefan asked, "Damon, what are you doing?"

"Some kind of psychic witch attack on us," Damon yelled over the fire. "Get over there, and do something." Stefan left in a hurry. Damon finally stopped with the blowtorch, and picked up Katherine to bring her upstairs. He laid her on the couch, and went to get her some blood. I stayed downstairs, staring at Elijah's body.

"What are you doing?" Damon asked when he saw me.

"Just making sure whoever did that doesn't come back," I lied. Damon seemed to believe it, and he left me alone. What I really wanted to do was to talk to Elijah.

It sounded strange, but I was a powerful witch, and I was going to do what I wanted to do. And that was to talk to a dead Elijah Mikaelson. I took one of his hands (which were over his heart), and I closed my eyes. There was nothing to chant because I didn't know a spell; all I did was think.

_Elijah, you're an Original. You die, but you don't really. Talk to me because I want to talk to you. I don't know how this is going to work, but all I know is that you're dead…but not really. Elijah, talk to me._

When I opened my eyes, I wasn't in the cellar; I was in a cold room. The walls were dirty, made of rock, and the floor was dirt. There were a few blankets trying to cover up the ground, and I realized that I was back in time. The time where they didn't have floors, they just had the dirt ground. I was back when Elijah was born.

"Courtney, I see you've found your way in," a voice said behind me, making me jump. I turned around to see Elijah standing in ragged, gray clothes. I stood up to face him, and I realized I was in a gray dress that fell all the way down to my feet.

"Elijah," I breathed, staring at him. He looked the same, except he had longer hair that fell past his ears and just above his shoulders. "What time are we in? Is this the time when you were a kid?"

"Yes, when I was with my family," Elijah answered. "Why are you here?"

"I'm sorry that my sister daggered you, but I was wondering if I could get some answers," I said to him. He laughed humorlessly.

"And why would I help you?"

I sighed. "I know I've done nothing to gain your trust, but honestly I've done nothing to lose it. That was my family. I was in a coma for a week, and it wasn't until the last few days when my friends and family noticed. That hurts. But, when I left them, I was in Pennsylvania and I met your brother, Klaus." This caught Elijah's interest.

"And what did he say?"

"He asked me which twin I was," I replied slowly. Elijah looked confused about it, but he kept quiet so I could continue. "When I told him I wasn't human, he decided he'd like to have a relationship with me. So we did have a relationship. It didn't last long because I realized he was still hunting down my sister to sacrifice her for some supernatural ritual. He made me feel a way only one other person could, who is dead now, and I think I was in love with him." Elijah shook his head at this. I wiped the smile off my face because I knew I was wrong. "Then I left. I knew there was no way I could change his mind, so I decided he could be a hybrid without me.

"I tried to convince him to get over his fantasy, contact you, and un-dagger Rebekah, but he didn't listen. I wanted him to be with his family, but apparently, he didn't want that."

"Klaus only wants what Klaus wants. He'll have family, as long as he's a hybrid," Elijah said.

I nodded. "I know that. Now I want to help everyone. I want to continue with the sacrifice, free Katherine, turn Klaus into a hybrid, and keep my sister alive. Since I'm a witch, I'm just going to bring Elena back. Then everyone is happy."

"Except me," Elijah disagreed, and I tilted my head. His brother would be happy; wasn't that what he wanted? His next sentence answered my question. "I want him dead."

"Why?"

"He's done things that have upset me, and I am done with his…bullshit."

I blinked quickly, trying to push back the tears. I wasn't sad that Klaus was wanted dead; I was sad that Klaus was wanted dead by his own brother. I mean, if Elena could die, I would want her to, and have a new life since this one is so shitty, but I don't want her to die because she's made me hate her so much. That's what Klaus did to his brother. Make Elijah hate him so much that now he wants Klaus dead. It hurt me that Klaus was that far gone.

"Well, can't you just dagger him?"

"You know that his werewolf side is dormant, don't you?" I nodded. "Then you know that silver wounds a werewolf, but they heal. The dagger only works on an Original if it is dipped in white oak ash. Well, the dagger is made of silver, and even if it is dipped in white oak ash, it will not work on him," Elijah explained, and I sighed.

"Elijah, he deserves to die, I understand. But do you really want to kill your brother," I asked, trying to appeal to his nicer side.

"Courtney, you do not know what he has done to me or my family. You do not know what he has done to other people. I believe my brother is heartless, and cruel. You may think he still has redemption, but you are very wrong, darling. There's no changing him."

Silence fell over us after Elijah stopped talking about his brother. I know it probably wasn't the best time, but I asked him, "So, you and your brother both fell for the same girl? Twice?"

Elijah laughed at the memory. He beckoned me. "Come. I'll show you the first doppelganger."

I followed him while saying, "You know I'm not a doppelganger. I'm an _Assassin._"

We walked out the rock building, and I saw busy streets. The sun was just barely shining past the clouds for me to see wheelbarrows wheeled around by men, women selling bread, and children running around playing. "I know what you are," Elijah told me as we walked the streets. "I had heard rumors that there was a powerful being out to kill the doppelganger. I just never thought the myths were true."

"Like the sun and the moon curse. It isn't real," I compared, and Elijah nodded.

"Exactly. I thought I was made up, but apparently I was wrong. Here you are."

I confirmed, "Here I am." I looked around at the families and realized that they weren't looking back at me. It was obvious that they were a close-knit community; they would know if one of their neighbors had a twin walking around without having any siblings. "How do they not notice me?"

"You appear to be another person, not looking like Tatia," Elijah answered. He smiled and waved at people who did the same for him. I copied his actions, just to make sure. "You happen to be my good friend Coralana."

"Good friend?" I suggested, causing Elijah to roll his eyes.

"Back in the day, we did not have…how do you say it? _Friends with benefits? _We were actually friends with each other, and nothing more."

I hid my pout, and whined, "You all were no fun."

"So you have an interest in my brother?" I nodded, with a sickly sweet smile on my face. He had me in a position only Ryan had me in. I had only known Klaus for a few weeks, and he already had the "Ryan effect" on me. Maybe when I fell in love, I fell hard. "I hate to crush you, but the only reason he started to have feelings for you is because you look like his former lover."

_You just did crush me._

The smile faded off my face, and I looked down sadly. "Oh…" was all I could say.

"Your looks might have pulled him in, but your personality made him stay," Elijah assumed. _Maybe… I still wish I could be loved for me, and not for my family. _"It's hard to get over old feelings. Believe me, some kind of nostalgia comes over me every time I look at you. You look just like her; with your short, waves hair." Elijah touched my cheek as we stopped to talk.

"You're the only one here who can see me for me?"

"Yes."

I pulled my face from his hands. "Let us go. I want to meet this Tatia." _Only one Mikaelson brother is going to fall for me, and that one is Klaus._

Elijah agreed silently, and took my hand to guide me. I didn't feel any sparks coming from him; it was more of a kind of home-y feeling. The way you feel when you get home after a long trip away. I knew that Elijah and I were never going to be, but I couldn't help but feel just a bit attached to the Mikaelson.

We stopped at a small house (more of a hut), where Elijah knocked on the door swiftly. I put on a smile, and waited for Tatia to come to the door. Let's just say, I was in awe when Tatia decided to open the door a few seconds after Elijah knocked.

It was like I was looking at myself. Not like looking at Katherine or Elena, but myself. She had my short, wavy hair like Elijah described, but she also had my deep chocolate eyes, and beauty mark below my eye. We looked exactly alike while Elena and Katherine looked exactly alike.

"Coralana, Elijah, how nice of you to come today. We were just cleaning up to go over to yours." She had an accent lacing her voice, just barely. It was an accent I couldn't place, but an accent nonetheless. "Come in, please," she invited warmly.

Elijah let me walk into the house first, past Tatia. It was dimly lit, like the other house Elijah and I left from and resembled it, yet it was a bit different. While the other one seemed cold, and just there for the time being, this one seemed like home, and it was filled with a sweet smell.

"Joseph, Coralana's here!" Tatia called out as she closed the door.

"Lany!" a child's voice rang out. Around the corner, there was a boy with light brown hair running towards me. I bent down to catch him in my arms when he jumped. "I haven't seen you in a while."

"Oh, I know, darling," I replied with a smile. "A long while." I didn't know the kid, but I loved his enthusiasm to see me. If anyone was that happy to see little 'ole me, then I'd love them.

"He always has loved you," Tatia commented, staring at us. She turned to Elijah to give him a kiss on the cheek. "And loved you. Not so much Niklaus, I suppose." Joseph made a sour face when Tatia mentioned Klaus.

Elijah smiled as he stared at Tatia with loving eyes. _She has got him whipped. _"Do you need anything? Water? Bread?"

"Can't I just visit my friend?" I asked.

"Of course," Tatia smiled. "Come on, sit down. I don't want you standing the whole time." I noticed she spoke with words like we did in 2011. It seemed like the time difference wasn't all that much of a difference. "So, Coralana, how is your family?"

* * *

><p>"Tatia is…amazing," I breathed as we walked out her house. After spending so much time with her, I realized that she was so much nicer than I expected. Honestly, I expected a girl like Katherine to be playing both the brothers, but she was sweet and sincere about everything. There was a girl like Katherine you could fall for, or there was a girl like Tatia.<p>

"She really _was _perfect," Elijah agreed, "but my mother killed her."

I nodded sadly. "I know. You create you."

"Courtney, do you see? My life was perfect and amazing, except for the fact that my brother was falling for the same woman I was. Then my mother tried to protect us because my youngest brother Henrik was with Niklaus watching the werewolves, and he was suddenly killed. My mother wouldn't let that happen to any of us so she turned us. She was angry that Tatia was in love with both Niklaus and I, so she used her blood to turn us all. What she didn't realize was that the imbalance Tatia's blood created would make an imbalance in life. Ergo, the doppelganger."

"I love your life," I said dreamily. "It was so simple back then. You didn't have to worry about the latest fashion, or what Katherine is up to; all you worried about was family and friends. I want that."

"I know what you mean, Courtney. Sometimes I wish I could go back to the simpler times when I wasn't worried about finding Katherine before Niklaus so she wouldn't die. But now I do want her dead. I want them both dead."

We both stopped talking for a while until we got back to the house where we started. "Elijah, I think this is where our journey ends." We both stood in front of the house, the moonlight glistening past the many trees. "I know that Klaus deserves to die, and I know that Katherine does too, but haven't you ever loved someone so much, no matter what they do, you don't want them to pay?"

Elijah didn't smile or nod. "Klaus ruined that love. There was a time where I'd do anything for him, but that time is over."

"'Always and forever'?" I guessed, and Elijah looked at me with sad eyes. He nodded. It took me a minute before I came to a conclusion. "It's your lucky day. I'm going to convince my assholes of friends to un-dagger you. Your welcome."


	24. Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

**WARNING: Some Niklaus Mikaelson up ahead.**

I opened my eyes to find myself back in the cellar in the Salvatore basement. My phone was buzzing in my pocket furiously. Elijah's body looked the same as it did when I went into his brain, and the cellar door was still open. It seemed as though nothing had changed. I answered my phone quickly, as I started to get annoyed with the buzzing.

"Hello?" I answered quietly, while getting up from my spot.

Elena's panicked voice replied on the other end. "Jenna's met Isobel. They've met, Courtney. And now Jenna's broken, and I can't do anything about it. She knows that I knew, and that you knew, and that John, and Alaric knew. Now she won't come out of her room. Courtney, what do I do?"

"Slow down, Elena, what are you talking about?"

"Isobel. She showed up at our door, Jenna answered it, and that's when she found out I knew all along. She knows that Isobel is my mother, and Jenna's broken. You and Jenna are close; you have to get back home."

"Okay," I agreed, walking up the stairs quickly. "I'll be right there!" I left the house in a rush, and thought of standing at our porch. There was my porch right in front of me and all I had to do was take another step to get to the door.

I opened the door quietly, and fled up the stairs to find Elena sitting at Jenna's door with tears in her eyes. When Elena saw me, she stood up quickly, and hugged me. "Elena, sissy, what happened?"

"I didn't tell her," Elena cried into my shoulder. "Just like how I didn't tell you and now she's mad at me. I should have told her. I should have told both of you." She pulled back to look me in the eyes as she ranted. "I don't know why I was crazy and delusional, thinking that if I kept you in the dark that it'd be safer, but it isn't. It just made you both mad and angry with me for doing that to you both and I'm sorry. Did I ever tell you that? I'm sorry. I'm such a bad—"

I interrupted, "Elena, you listen to me right now. You are not a bad person. You are a good person, and you thought you were doing the right thing, but you were delusional. It doesn't matter how mad Jenna is at you because no matter what, she loves you. And so do I. We can deal with this together." Elena nodded, and moved out the way to I could talk to Jenna.

"Jen, I'm so sorry we didn't tell you. I wish that I had listened to myself and just told you. I'm also sorry I haven't been spending as much time with you. I've just been so busy with everything else, and I didn't realize I was isolating you out. Jenna, I know you're mad and you have every right to be, but when the time comes, I want you to talk to us. We don't deserve your immediate forgiveness, but we want to earn it back as soon as we can. So you have time alone, and then when you're ready, we're here. Jenna, I love you. And so does Elena. 'Night."

I quickly took Elena's hand before she could protest, and I pulled her into my room. "You told me that Isobel was dead. That she had burned right in front of you. How is she alive?" I interrogated. Elena looked confused.

"What are you talking about?"

It was my turn to be confused. "Elena, you told me that Isobel was dead. I was sat down on my bed right over there when you told me. What are _you _talking about?"

"I didn't tell you such a thing," Elena denied. _But I distinctly remember her saying that… _"I'm telling you now, Isobel just showed up at our door, claiming that she was our mother and asked to be invited in. When I didn't invite her in, I closed the door on her. Alaric's wife, our mother, is still alive. I don't know where you got the idea that she was dead."

It still didn't make any sense, but I still had one more piece of evidence. "The note! What about the suicide note Isobel left me that told me who I really am? That couldn't have just come out of nowhere! Huh?"

"What are you talking about?" Elena repeated. I walked past her swiftly, and furiously dug through my drawers for the note I was just reading a few weeks ago. But strangely I couldn't locate it. I looked through the drawers, under my covers, under the bed, and through the room all while Elena was standing at the door with a big frown on her face. "Courtney, what are you doing?"

I replied, "I'm looking for the suicide note, okay? She did leave one. She went up to me and she gave me it. That's how I found out I was a witch, and I wasn't her daughter."

"No, you found that out from Katherine," Elena argued.

I yelled back, "But I found it out FIRST from the note she gave me. I know what I'm talking about, Elena!" Elena stood there with her frown and I knew that I shouldn't have yelled. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get that frustrated. But I swear—"

"Let's just get some rest," Elena suggested, interrupting me. I said nothing as I nodded with a fake smile, and took off my shoes. I was comfortable enough to change from my dress into a big t-shirt my dad gave me in front of Elena, and she did the same. We snuggled in the bed together, and fell asleep in each other's arms. My last remaining thought before I fell asleep: _What the hell is going on?_

I woke up to Elena walking around the room randomly. She was up and about walking around the room, like she was looking for something. I watched as she looked through my drawers like there was something that she really needed from them. The note obviously wasn't going to turn up for me, so why would it show up for her?

"Elena, what are you doing?" I asked softly, making her jump. She turned around to face me with a nervous smile. She stopped looking through my things, and walked over to me slowly, and reluctantly. "Why are you looking through my drawers?"

"I was just looking for some clothes to wear," she lied horribly. When Elena lied, she did this thing where she looked up. It was quite annoying because I almost wanted to take a peek at the ceiling just to see what she was looking at.

I suggested, "How about you go to your room?"

"Good idea. Thanks." Elena dashed out of my room quickly, leaving me only to my thoughts. I just sat on my bed the whole time as I heard arguing downstairs. There was no point in trying to go after Jenna because she obviously wanted to be alone. I told her that I wasn't going to bother her anymore, and when she was ready to talk, we'd talk. Only hoped that Elena would follow that too because I wanted time when she lied to me. Jenna and I were basically doing the same thing: leaving because we could stand to be in the same place as the people who lied to us were.

_Courtney?_

_Yes, Courtney?_

_How did we hear that argument if it was all the way downstairs?_

That question stumped me as I asked myself. I wasn't a vampire because that meant that it canceled out my witch powers, and being a witch basically meant that I didn't have any vampire specialties, so what was going on? How could I hear things that I wasn't supposed to be able to hear, and do things I'm not supposed to be able to do?

_I really am a freak._

As I got up from bed, I realized that I wasn't in the mood to dress it up. I got out of bed, picked out a white t-shirt, some blue jeans, and some gray Vans to finish off the outfit. I grabbed my phone and looked in the mirror. I decided it was the day I was going to put my wavy, awesome hair up into a bun.

_Courtney, do you know why you're awesome? Because your hair can be wavy all on its own. It doesn't need any help from you by putting it up into braids at night, or using some kind of hair product. Your hair is fucking awesome._

I nodded at my reflection in the mirror, and walked out my room dandy. I walked out to see Ric punching John in the face. I tried not to laugh as Elena gasped, but I just couldn't hold it in. "Damn, I walked into a cat fight."

"Sorry, Elena," Ric apologized, but no one said anything. Ric walked out the door without anything else to say. Even Elena laughed a bit.

"You know this is your fault, right?" Elena said.

Uncle John agreed, "Right." Elena stormed past me on the stairs, back up to her room. I walked farther down to see that John had a bloody nose from Alaric. "Don't say anything, Courtney."

I kept laughing at him while pointing at his nose. Disobeying his wishes, I laughed, "You got your ass handed to you on a silver platter by my teacher!"

"Courtney…" John threatened, but he couldn't go on because he started laughing too. This made me laugh even harder because he had no reason to laugh. We both hung on each other 'till we got our breaths back. "Oh, what a dick I am."

"You really are a dick," I agreed bluntly. "But you're my uncle and I love you."

"I love you too, Courtney. But, I'm actually—"

"That's right! I forgot! Elena told me that you're my father, right?" I remembered, which made me lose the smile.

"Yes, Courtney. I am. And I'm sorry I never told you."

"I'm just glad to know that my real dad loved me, at least," I said happily, even though I wasn't really happy. Knowing about my real dad made me think of the dad I spent all those years with. The one who wiped the drool off my chin while John was away, probably screwing college chicks.

John's face turned dark. "What are you talking about?" He took my face, and held it in his hands so I could face him. "Your father loved you very much."

"Are you kidding me? He always favored Elena over me. So did mom, honestly. But it's okay, because they still loved me, and I got you and Jenna to love me more than Elena. Jenna and I are tight! …well, not recently, but we still do love each other very much. Plus, while Elena was off at cheer practice and while Jeremy was playing games with his stupid friends, we were baking cakes together, and having food fights. I'm okay that mom and dad didn't love me the way they loved Elena, because I had you, my real dad." John smiled at this, and he hugged me.

"What are we having for breakfast?" he asked cheerfully. _Finally, that serious, depression scene is over._

"I don't know. I was hoping you'd cook something?"

"Nah, I was waiting on you to cook something, but now you're telling me you want me to cook something? I think we'll just have some cereal." I nodded, and followed John to the kitchen so we could eat our breakfast. I grabbed two bowls and spoons for us as he grabbed the milk and Honey Nut Cheerios.

After a nice long conversation about Barney and noodles over cereal, John and I were finished eating. Stefan had walked in the house about ten minutes after we started eating. Someone knocked on the door, and John got up. He opened it to Isobel standing there with a solemn look on her face.

"I need to talk to her, John," Isobel said to him. "May I come in?" John nodded, letting Isobel walk in the front door. Believe me, I wasn't all that thrilled that she was here, but she was my mother…kind of. She was _Elena's _mother, and as much as Elena didn't want to meet her, she deserved to. "Hello Courtney." She waved at me as she walked in farther in my house. John closed the door.

"Isobel, how nice to see you," I grit out, even though I really just wanted to flip her off. I thought she was dead, for some reason. Maybe because she left a suicide note for me or maybe because Elena sat me down on a bed and told me that Isobel had committed suicide right in front of her? I don't know…maybe I was delusional about it. _Not._

"I'll go get her," John said. "You wait in the kitchen." I followed John up to Elena's room after we put our things in the sink. We found Elena and Stefan sitting on her window together.

"Elena, could you come down? I need to talk to you," John requested, which caused Elena to sigh. I knew she really didn't like John, but did she really need to be such a bitch about it? I loved my uncle…dad a lot, and I thought it was really disrespectful for her to treat John like that. Sure, he lied to us for most of our lives, but let's not forget, she lied too! I never really knew that her problem was with uncle John.

"I have nothing to say to you," Elena scoffed.

"Please, it's important," John urged. "You, too, Stefan."

I smiled at them both sarcastically, and started walking down the stairs by myself. I walked into the kitchen, and waited for Elena, Stefan and John to come down the stairs. Isobel said nothing to me, she just sighed most of the time.

When Elena saw Isobel, she looked very surprised. And just a bit angry.

"I asked John if I could see you again. For a second chance," Isobel said as an explanation.

Elena turned back to John, and asked incredulously, "You invited her in?" Then she turned to me. "You let him invite her in?"

John didn't fight with Elena the way I thought he would. He just said softly, "She has information on Klaus." _So do I. _"Just listen to her, please?"

Elena looked over to Stefan with a pleading look. He put his hand on Elena's shoulder, and I think he gave her a reassuring squeeze. All I know is that after he touched her, she was more relaxed with the whole situation. He soon then turned to Isobel. "Okay, so what do you know?" _He should be asking me that question._

Isobel beckoned us all into the kitchen before she started to talk. She sat down at the table as she started to explain, "I've been doing everything I can to find Klaus, since I last saw you. We figured it was our best chance."

"Best chance of what?" Stefan inquired irritably.

John answered, "At keeping Elena alive."

"No, you don't get to talk," Elena snapped. "Not after everything you've done."

"Elena," I interrupted, and all eyes were then on me. "Could you just shut the fuck up for one second so we can hear about saving _your _goddamn life?"

Elena looked a little embarrassed, but she said nothing after that. Stefan shot me a disapproving look, and I sent him a sarcastic smile. _Sarcasm is my best friend…_

"So, were you able to find Klaus?"

Isobel replied, "No, no one can." _Lie._ "But there are rumors that the doppelganger is alive, and that means trouble."

"It means that any vampire trying to get in favor with Klaus will find you, and turn you in."

Elena looked skeptical. "I don't buy one bit of this. Last time you were here, Isobel, you made clear that you didn't give a damn about me. Now you show up at my doorstep claiming that you are trying to save me from an Original vampire who wants to use me as a sacrifice in some supernatural ritual? You want me to believe that you want to help?"

John cut in. "Isobel's been helping all along. Klaus has been searching for Katherine. All it takes is for one of those tomb vampires to spread the word around that Katherine's in Mystic Falls, which will bring him here to discover you. So, we killed them."

"And you almost killed Stefan and Damon," Elena shot back, which got me up.

"You almost did what?" I demanded, and John's expression soft.

"I'm sorry, but I need to protect you." As John said this, he didn't look at Elena, he stared at me. There was one side of me that was touched he'd give a damn about my feelings and not just shrug them off like everyone else, but there was another side that was furious that he would try and kill Damon. And Stefan.

"We need to get you to a safe house," Isobel announced, standing up from her chair. "I have one I could take you to. The deed is in your name so no vampires can get in without invitation. For you too, Courtney."

"You want to help?" Elena asked, sounding sincere, but her attitude totally changed when she said her next sentence. "Then get the hell out of my house."

It took me a second to realize what was going on before I stomped out of the kitchen. I knew I had caught everyone's attention, so I turned around to yell at her. "Elena, everyone here wants to save your life. Scratch that; everyone but you. Elena, if you want to die, go run into a burning building, save some kid's life and die a hero. I'd rather see you go like that than to die in some creepy sacrifice." It was a lie, but I was honestly annoyed with Elena rejecting any and all attempts to save her life.

"I am saving someone's life. All of yours," Elena argued. "If Klaus finds out we're trying to save me from him, he might kill you all."

"Elena, we can save our own asses. You? I can't say the same."

With that, I left the kitchen, and was out the door. I wasn't in the mood to be talking with anyone in Mystic Falls, so I called Ani.

"Babe, I'm about to go to school, so make it quick," she said to me as an answer.

"Um, okay. Well, my sister is a suicidal and she's also really stupid. Sometimes I wish she'd just wake up from the stupid illusion that she's going to be okay if she takes NO action because she's not going to be okay. We're all trying to save her ass, and she's out there telling people to fuck off when we're trying to help her."

"Maybe she doesn't want help," Ani suggested innocently.

"Yeah? Well Elena needs help whether she wants it or not." I hung up on the phone because I didn't want to hear her say anything more about Elena being able to make her own choices. If she's going to be a dumbass about her choices, I'll gladly pick for her. As much of a bitch I seem, I am only trying to help her.

As I walked, my phone started ringing. I took out my phone and picked up without even looking at caller ID.

"Hello?" I answered, trying to seem annoyed.

Katherine's voice replied on the other end. "Hey, little girly. I need you to get your ass over here and come see someone with me. I'm—"

"Doesn't matter, Katherine. I'll see you soon." I hung up as soon as I picked up. Walking into the woods, I took a deep breath to clear my mind. _Just think of something else. Think of helping Katherine. Take me to Katherine. _When I opened my eyes, I was standing in front of Katherine, again in a forest.

She turned around quickly with her vampire speed, and gasped when she saw me. Katherine opened and closed her mouth many times, but no words came out. Finally, she asked, "How did you get there?"

"Witch powers, baby," I replied happily, totally forgetting what just happened with my sister. "I really am getting good, aren't I?"

"Yeah." Katherine nodded distantly while smiling at me. It was almost as if she were proud of her daughter, but that couldn't be because she was too wrapped up in herself. "Anyway, I need you to help me with someone."

"And who are you talking about?"

"Isobel."

I wasn't surprised that she was working with Isobel…again. But it did surprise me that she would say something about it. Sure, I'm in Katherine's plan, but she knows there is a certain extant I will go to, and if that means seriously hurting my sister in any way, she knows I won't hesitate to kill her. Katherine does have her secrets, too. Sometimes, you've got to keep some things hidden.

I replied simply, "Alright, let's go."

Katherine beckoned me to follow her. We walked through the woods in silence until we reached a house. It was a big, two storey house that made me a little bit homesick (more like 'this-one-house-I-slept-in-for-a-while-homesick') of the mansion Klaus and I were in. "This is it?"

"Yes." Katherine put on a smile, and walked in. We were quiet and quick, almost like I used vampire speed to get in. All of a sudden, Isobel standing in front of flowers, attacked Katherine. Katherine instantly returned the favor by wrapping her hand around Isobel's neck and pressing her against a wall. I just stood there, with my arms crossed, waiting for something to happen, and ready to use my powers just in case. "Nice house," Katherine commented.

"Nicest in town actually." Isobel's panting frown went to a panting grin. "Come here," she said, opening her arms for Katherine. She returned the smile and the hug. Katherine pulled away from the hug and walked over to me. "It's good to see you, Katherine…and Courtney."

I gave a sarcastic smile. "Don't worry, Courtney's helping us. She won't tell anyone because she loves her mother. Anyway, I've heard you've been busy."

With Isobel's eyes still glancing to me every few seconds, she retorted, "Where'd you hear that? But yes, I have. Busy making a deal with Klaus to save your life." When Klaus's name came up, their conversation piqued my interest.

We walked to the living room, not without Isobel stopping to get drinks, to talk more about the whole thing. I sat on the opposite couch of Isobel while Katherine decided to stand. As she poured wine into glasses, she asked, "What was with the visit to the Gilbert household?"

"John told me that Ric was dating Auntie Vanilla, so I got jealous and scared her away."

"You've got John wrapped around your finger." Katherine handed Isobel a drink.

I scoffed. "Obviously, if he invited you into the house."

"He thinks that I'm trying to protect, Elena," she told Katherine, then turned to me and added, "Which I am. So now he's telling me everything, keeping me up to date."

"Oh, do tell," Katherine requested, sitting next to her. I tuned out of their conversation and thought about my little adventure with the one they call Elijah. It was amazing to have that time with Elijah and Tatia, and I only wish I could go back. Maybe there was a friendship there, or maybe an alliance. Whatever it was, I was hoping that it'd last long.

"I can get the moonstone," I heard Katherine say. "Courtney's got the doppelganger."

Once again, I tuned myself out of the conversation. Speaking of Klaus, what's he going to do when he finds me? Be angry? Overjoyed that he found me? Sad that my friends hate him, want to see his head on a silver platter and his body burned? Oh, and did I mention that we can never be together because he wants to use my sister in a pedophile sacrifice?

"Pack up, Raina, we've got to go," Katherine said, standing up. Apparently, their conversation was quick. "Thanks for letting the grownups talk."

"Yes, whatever makes you happy, Katherine," I replied sarcastically. "Because the world only revolves around you."

"Shut up. You know you love me."

I rolled my eyes, and started walking away. My phone started buzzing in my pocket, making me answer it.

"Get over here," I listened to Damon's voice say. Then he hung up. It was usual for Damon to say only a few words to me before hanging up. I shrugged and decided I was just going to go.

I took a step, and before I knew it, my surroundings changed. I was walking up the steps of the Salvatore house. _I am getting so much fucking better with these witch powers. Fuck yeah!_

Instead of knocking like any normal person would do, I walked in on their conversation. They were all in the living room; Stefan with his brooding face, Damon with his shit-eating grin, and Elena with her annoying grimness. It was too depressing.

"Look who decided to show up."

"Yeah, yeah." I waved Damon off. "What are we talking about?"

"How did you get here so fast?" Stefan asked staring me with wide eyes. "Damon only called you a second ago.

"Huh, let's see?" I tapped on my chin mockingly. My tone started out soft. "Maybe because…" Then it turned rude. "I'm a witch." Stefan looked at me with sad eyes, but I didn't really care.

"We are talking about," Damon continued on, "Elena's wellbeing."

"Of course we are," I mumbled.

Damon didn't stop. "You, Stefan and I need to switch off watching her. Being her bodyguards. Okay? Or do you hate that she's trying to save us so much that you'll just let her die."

"I think my sister is stupid. I don't want her to die, though," I replied quickly. Damon rolled his eyes. "Yeah? Well fuck you."

Elena tried to change the conversation. "I need one of you to escort me to the Lockwood lunch."

"That'll be me," Stefan volunteered.

"And me," I announced slowly.

"Good, because I have some witch business with Bonnie," Damon excused. I suspiciously (in more than one way) heard the door open and someone sneak inside.

"Does that mean you're taking her to…" Elena stopped midsentence because of Damon shushing her silently. He put his finger up to his mouth, and moved his eyes towards the door like there was someone there. And there was; Katherine was standing there with her arms crossed.

"Don't get quiet on my account. By all means, carry on. Like I said, if I wanted to hurt Elena, I would have already," Katherine said, walking farther into the living room with us. When no one said anything, Katherine added, "Seriously, what's the plan?" I didn't even bother to listen after that because let's be honest, we're all hiding something. No point in sharing secrets now.

My mind wandered off to my meeting with Klaus. I thought about it so much and maybe it was stupid. Should I really be thinking of how our meeting would be? No, because whatever happens happens. It's not like I can change the future, I can only see it. But what if Klaus was angry and decided to kill me on sight…though there isn't really a reason for him to be angry at me since _he _was the one who drove _me _away. What if he told everyone what happened with us? I knew that they'd find out eventually, but it still would have sounded better coming from me. There were many possibilities on how we would meet but the only thing I could do was to just wait. I guess that patience was the key.

By the time I tuned back in, Katherine's last words were, "Fine, be that way" before she walked off with her arms crossed. I turned back to look at them all, and Damon just shrugged. There wasn't really anything I could do, except talk about something else that was on my mind. A recent promise I made.

"Let's talk about Elijah," I stated, making everyone turn to me. Stefan looked truly intrigued by my statement, Damon looked annoyed and Elena looked confused. Basically, it was the normal expressions they had while talking to me. Sure, Stefan was sweet, and he cared about what I had to say _sometimes, _but he still broke my heart and there wasn't really any space for forgiveness. Damon…he was just being Damon. He always has to have some kind of negative attitude towards everyone but Elena. Speaking of Elena…she's just clueless. She wants to save everyone but herself, yet she is the most blonde person when it comes to being a hero (no offense to blondes). Honestly, sometimes I think she just acts dumb so Stefan will have an excuse to talk to her more.

"What about Elijah?" Damon asked, trying not to sound irritated. I gave him points for trying.

"I think we should just un-dagger him."

"No," was Damon's reply.

Me: "Damon, that's not smart."

Damon: "And why is that?"

Me: "If Klaus finds out that you daggered him, then he'll get angry and un-dagger him and then you'll have two really old vampires after you."

Damon: "That's an 'if.' We don't even know if it'll happen. So no."

Me: "Damon, stop being difficult."

Damon: "I do what I want."

Me: "I'll just do it myself."

When I tried to walk out of the living room, Damon was in front of me in a millisecond tops. He blocked my way out of the room with every step I tried to take. I went left, I went right; I went left-right, but he still blocked me.

"Get out of my way," I demanded. Damon crossed his arms, and shook his head with another smug grin on his face. That's when I lost it. "Are you serious right now? You don't fucking know how annoying it is to try to work with someone as difficult as you! While Elena's trying to get herself killed, I'm the only one here who's actually reasonable. You'll all just go with what Elena says because Elena knows fucking best! I'm saving your ass in the long run, so if you could kindly move out of my way, I'd be grateful."

Damon just stared at me for a second after my outburst, then he said the most infuriating word in the world. "No."

I pushed him so hard in the chest out of my way, he flew back a few feet. "No? I do what I want."

I walked like I owned the whole place down the steps with Damon following me. I heard Elena and Stefan get up from the couch to and follow me. They were yelling protests behind me, but once again, I ignored them like they ignore me. I marched right into the cell where Elijah was lying dead, and was about to pull the dagger out until Stefan grabbed my hand and whipped me around to look him in the eyes.

He used my stupid crush over him against me as he stared into my eyes. I looked at those beautiful green orbs and realized that maybe I was doing the wrong thing. His eyes were just so mesmerizing and interesting that I almost wanted to kiss him. But I couldn't because his girlfriend was right there, who was also my sister, and his brother who I just happened to sleep with a few days ago. So you can see that it wasn't the best time to sneak in a little peck. Plus, I was supposed to be mad at him. Yet somehow he still captured me.

"Don't do this," he whispered, which got me not to do it. I pulled my arm from his grip slowly and softly before walking out of the cellar. There were definitely going to be problems if Klaus found out Stefan had me whipped.

* * *

><p>I walked in the Lockwood house next to Elena and Stefan. The house was nicely decorated in white, with white chairs, and white banners. It was quite the cute little place they turned it into. When Caroline caught sight of us, she walked from Carol Lockwood to us.<p>

"Any luck finding Matt?" Stefan asked her when she reached us.

"No. But what if he tells someone?"

I questioned, "What do you mean tell someone?"

Caroline almost looked ashamed as she told me, "I admitted to him that I was a vampire. He just ran off after that. He thought I did something to Vicki, but I didn't. You know I didn't. And now I don't know where he is."

I thought for a second what it would mean for Matt to know. If he did accept that Caroline was a vampire, maybe he'd accept that Bonnie and I are witches. Then I could talk to him about my problems because Tyler decided to go MIA. Plus I could get a human's perspective on the whole thing since almost none of us are human, except Elena, Jeremy and him. Maybe it'd be great that there isn't anyone in the dark anymore because they could be watchful of vampires, and they could help us with Elena. I knew Jenna wasn't going to be forgiving us anytime soon, but maybe Matt could understand…which is unlikely because I _still _don't understand why Elena didn't tell me.

"No, we'll find him," I assured Caroline, rubbing her arm. She looked like nothing was going to calm her down except a nice cup of 'calm the fuck down,' so there was no point in trying to make her relax.

"Is there any place you know he would go?" Stefan asked Elena.

Elena replied, "He isn't really one to run."

"It's not supposed to be this way," Caroline whimpered, "I was supposed to tell him at the right time, and he'd accept it because he loves me."

"We'll help you find him," I promise, trying to smile.

"Courtney and I just have to accept this thing for Jenna," Elena told Caroline. "Then we'll help."

"Okay, call me when you're done." Caroline walked past us in a hurry to the door. I looked at Elena with a worried look and she just returned the same.

"It's okay, he'll come around. You did," Stefan whispered to me.

"That's because I turned into one myself," I whispered back, making him laugh.

"We all have our way of coping," Elena added. "Even if it means dating a vamp."

As we walked to be seated, my butt buzzed. I pulled my phone out to see that I got a message from Katherine.

_I found the moonstone._

I texted back:

_Put it back, but remember where you found it._

Katherine replied:

_Isobel's going to need it…_

I texted:

_Show Isobel, then take it out when we need it. I'll make sure they're not suspicious._

While Elena and Stefan decided to stand up, I sat down located towards them middle. As the room filled up, I played games on my phone until the actual service started. Carol stood up at the stand and started talking about charities and funds for everything. I didn't start listening until I heard my mom's name

"And here to accept the donation to the Miranda Sommers Gilbert Scholarship Fund are Courtney and Elena Gilbert," Carol announced softly. The whole room clapped as Elena and I got up to the stand to talk for a short minute. Carol held out the envelope for me to take while Elena decided to talk.

"The Historical Society was my mom's baby. You were all very important to my mother, and I thank you for this gift," Elena said, earning a few laughs. I smiled at her until we all heard something drop. Everyone rushed out of the room to go check out what it was. Elena and I both exchanged confused looks before we saw Katherine walk in with a purple shirt on.

"Nice dress," Katherine commented before putting her hand over both of our mouths. "Mind if I borrow it?" She ran off with Elena, leaving me there with nothing to do. I was angry at Katherine for not telling me the plan because now people will think it's suspicious that I didn't do anything to save Elena when I could have. But then again, I could just tell them that she compelled me since I could still be compelled, even if I was a supernatural occurrence.

Stefan walked in calling Elena. When I saw him, I knew I had to pretend that I was dazed, so that's what I did. "Where's Elena?"

I pretended to look like I was confused. Looking around for Elena, I stuttered, "I…I don't know."

"What happened?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Stefan asked even more urgent.

"I mean, I don't know what happened. What made everyone go out? Maybe Elena was with them."

"John fell down the stairs. He has vampire bites on his neck," Stefan answered. We both turned around to look for her, but we saw nothing. "She didn't walk out because I didn't see her. Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine…I think. I just am worried. If you don't know where Elena is, and I don't, what the hell?"

I turned around to see Katherine on the phone. I jumped a bit, acting like I was surprised. Stefan turned around too to see Katherine. "Elena…"

"I'm calling Damon," she told us. Stefan still looked a bit suspicious, but he still grabbed both of our arms and said, "Let's go." We slipped out of the house unnoticed, the envelope still firmly in my hand. We walked out as Katherine talked on the phone intently to Damon. When we got to the car, Stefan threw Katherine against the back of the car. I guess there goes her cover.

"What have you done to Elena?" he growled. "Why is Courtney confused?"

Katherine pulled out a needle and shoved it in Stefan's stomach. I guessed it was vervain because Stefan slowly loosened his grip on Katherine. "Sorry, I can't have you following me." He dropped, making me rush to catch him before he fell to the ground. He totally lost consciousness in my arms, which was unfortunate because I couldn't hold him. Sorry, I don't work out enough to carry full grown 300 year old men. "Put him in the bushes." I did exactly what she wanted me to do, but I set him down gently.

"Sorry, Steffers," I apologized, kissing his forehead. Katherine stared at me with a suspicious look. "He's my friend. I know that you're my mother, but I'm still betraying my friends."

"Alright, let's go." I hopped into Katherine's car. We drove a while until we got to the house. When we got out, Katherine dialed Isobel's number. "Hey. You've got 20 minutes until Damon finds you. He knows how you think."

"Yeah, we're already on our way."

"How far are you? Oh, and Courtney's joining you."

I nodded while locking the door.

"What do you mean? Isobel?" When Katherine didn't get a reply, she hung up the phone. I then noticed there was a man standing in front of us.

"Katherine…"

She turned around to see the man. When Katherine used her vampire speed to get to him, she was taken down by him holding his hands up. He must have been a witch. Katherine was down by his powers, but I stood up. The man turned to me in confusion.

I answered with a smile, "Sorry. I'm a witch. You can't get me."

That's when I wished I was in the same car as Isobel. When I opened my eyes, I was sitting next to Elena, who was lying on the seat with her eyes closed. Katherine must have knocked her out or something. When I realized that Elena wasn't awake yet, I said to Isobel, "You gave her up."

"How could you work with her?" was all Isobel had to say.

"I wanted to save her and Elena. But you just had to ruin the whole plan. You were supposed to be on her side. I was."

"I'm trying to protect you and Elena. Please, just don't say anything," Isobel pleaded. I didn't want Elena to know I was working with Katherine either, so I was quiet. Elena started to wake up, so I pretended I was out of it too. She sat up to look at me. Elena being the great sister that she is wrapped her arms around me to make me feel better. Too bad I already knew what was going on.

We arrived at the place she wanted us to go; the Mystic Falls graveyard, where our parents were buried. As Elena interrogated Isobel, I stood there with my head in the clouds. _Who is that man who took Katherine? Why did Isobel give Katherine up? Is Klaus here?_

They started walking before I could comprehend what was going on. Elena kept asking Isobel if she was compelled and if she knew Klaus. Isobel just gave vague answers back. I had a feeling that Katherine or Elena and I weren't going to be the ones dying. If I could see the future, there was a possibility that the thing Elena told me about Isobel was true. She was going to die.

We stopped at a grave that read _Isobel Flemming._

"My parents," Isobel began, "your grandparents, put this here when it became clear that I wasn't coming back. They'd visit every week, and they'd bring flowers. Even though there's no one buried here. The Isobel they knew is dead. So whatever part of me, the human part, is buried here when I chose to become a vampire. The part that use to dream that one day she'd know her daughters."

"What?"

She shrugged. "Instead you got to meet the other part." For her next sentence, she looked at me. "The part that would betray her own flesh and blood." Her phone started ringing, stopping her from saying anything else to us. "Let her go? Okay. I'm done?" She hung up the phone with a relived look on her face.

"Who was that?" Elena asked intently.

"I'm so sorry, Elena…sorry that you didn't get to meet that part of me." Isobel took a step towards me, leaned into my ear and whispered, "I'm sorry that I did that to you and Katherine. I'm sorry I am such a disappointment to you. Klaus wants to meet you. He has Katherine."

Isobel took a step back before pulling her necklace off. At first I wasn't sure what was going on, but when Isobel started screaming, I knew that she was committing suicide. I quickly went to hold Elena in my arms as we listened to her scream and burn in the sunlight. It wasn't the death I expected her to have but it was the time I expected.

"Elena…Elena, let's go." I pulled her away from our burning mother before she could get traumatized any more than she had already. The man was waiting for us at the car again, and we got in. He drove us back to the boarding house. The whole time, Elena was just lying in my arms mumbling, "Everyone leaves me." I felt kind of bad because it was almost true. Most of our family had died, her lying to our friends and family made everyone get mad at her. Basically, her life sucked. I never took a second to look in Elena's eyes to see how her life was going. And honestly, I would hate to be Elena. Except the fact that she's got two smoking hot brothers fawning over her. I wished she'd just tell one of them she doesn't like them so they can stop fighting over her though.

We walked in the house together to find Damon and Stefan sitting on the couch looking worried. While Stefan ran to Elena worried, Damon came to me. He asked me if I was okay, and I just told him what happened, leaving out the whole Katherine thing of course.

"I listened to her on the phone. She outted Katherine to someone," I told them all. "Then after talking on the phone with someone, she just killed herself. It was horrific."

Stefan started asking Elena questions and they talked, but I didn't really listen.

_Elena's life is shit. My life is shit. Life is just shit._

"What is this?" Elena asked after Damon slapped something down in her lap.

"The deed to our house," Stefan answered. Of course they'd give it to Elena and Elena only. "Courtney, get over here." Or maybe not. I got up from the couch and sluggishly walked over to them in little circle. "It's in Zack's name. As soon as you guys sign it, it'll be in yours."

"You're giving us your house?" I asked dumbfounded.

"Isobel had the right idea about a safe house. So you'll control who can and can't get in the house," Stefan told me. It was a good idea to be honest, but if we both signed it, then that meant Katherine could get in when she got out of Klaus's clutches. But it also meant that I couldn't let her in without everyone assuming I was working with her, which I was. Because we all know that Elena wouldn't invite her in.

"Although I'll be super pissed if you lock me out," Damon added.

Suddenly we could all hear someone breathing. I looked over to see Uncle John, who was lying on the floor when I got there, gasping for air. Apparently his ring finally kicked in. Damon used his vampire speed to pick him up by his collar.

"I swear I didn't know what she was going to do," John claimed before Damon could hurt him. Elena got up from her seat. John apologized to her, "I'm sorry... I didn't know…"

"Let him go, Damon," Elena requested. "He and I need to talk." Damon let John go, grabbed my arm, and we walked out of the living room. Damon took me to his room and sat me on his bed.

"Damon…"

"This is stupid. We should just kill him," Damon mumbled angrily. "He was working with Isobel, so we know he was doing some bullshit. Don't you agree with me?"

"John is my father, Damon. I'm not going to agree with you," I said while getting up from the bed. I walked over to him quietly and put my hands on his face softly. "If you want to win Elena's heart, you have to do what she wants, yet keep a level head at the same time. She doesn't want you to kill John, so you can't. If you do stupid things like killing people for no reason, then she won't realize what an awesome person you are."

Damon opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it when I raised my eyebrows. He sighed.

"I know it's hard not to do what you want, but you need to learn that killing someone isn't always the answer."

"Of course it is."

"No, it's not."

"Whatever." Damon walked out of the room with a frown on his face. I just sighed. I walked out with him, but didn't stop to talk with Stefan. I snuck down to the cellar where Elijah was. I wasn't going to do anything rational, but I was just going to stare at his body like a creeper.

_I just have to survive until the sacrifice. Then Katherine will be free, Elena will be sacrificed, I'll save her, Klaus will be a hybrid, and the only problem we'll have to worry about is if Elena really loves Damon or not. Everything will be happy shiny. Just 'till the sacrifice._

* * *

><p>"Sign here," he man instructed, pointing to a line for me to sign under Elena's signature. I signed quickly, even though my hands were starting to get cramps. "And here." I signed again.<p>

"So this place is all yours? They just gave it to you?" Bonnie asked.

"Well, mine and Elena's for now," I replied. "It's not like I seriously own the house, it's just in our names. We're the only ones who can invite a certain type of person in here, if you know what I mean. We're the sole owners."

"It's your own person safe house," Bonnie commented.

"That's the idea."

"I wouldn't want to clean it," Bonnie said, making me laugh. Elena walked in on us laughing.

"What is so funny?" she asked, rubbing her hands on her pants.

"We were just discussing the cleaning situation," I informed her, which made her laugh too. "I'm going to be busy protecting you."

"I'm going to be busy being protected."

"I'm going to be busy with Jeremy," Bonnie said.

We all looked at each other for a second. In unison, "Damon."

"Alright, it's all yours," the man said, gathering the paperwork. We got up to walk to the door to invite the boys in. I opened the door to them talking to each other about Klaus. Elena thanked the man while shaking his hand before left. I smiled at him as he walked, but stopped when he was out of sight. Mr. Henry wasn't the coolest guy around, or the happiest. He was glum the whole time which brought my mood down.

I stood there waiting for Elena to come back and invite the boys in. I knew Stefan was getting in hands down, but it would be fun to play with Damon a little bit. Maybe he'd have to stay at another house for a few days because Elena and I refused to invite him in. That'd be funny. Sadly, if I took one step out of the house, then my head would be ripped off by him in anger. I would be pissed too if I was locked out of my house by two teenage girls.

"Sorry, I completely forgot," Elena said to them, turning back around. She walked back with a smug smile to the door. "Stefan, would you like to come inside?"

"I would love to, thank you." Stefan walked in the house returning the smile. Damon looked a bit worried we wouldn't invite him in, but mostly annoyed.

"What are we? 12? Courtney, invite me in," Damon demanded.

"If I let you in," I began, letting Elena continue for me.

"Do you promise to obey the owners of this house?"

"No."

"Seriously, Damon. My way. You promised, remember? I call the shots. No lies, no secret agendas."

"Yes, Elena, sure," Damon agreed unwillingly.

"And promise to buy me Life Savers when I ask?" I added playfully. He shook his head slightly, but agreed. "Then Mr. Damon Salvatore, please come in." Damon finally walked in while I giggled at the whole thing. He walked right past all of us moodily.

Bonnie came over with Elena's jacket. That's when I realized I wasn't going to be joining them. I missed a shitload of school, and there was really no making it up. I mean I could, but that would take forever. It was legal for me to drop out at 16, but I still missed seeing Caroline and Matt every day.

"Where are you guys going?" Stefan asked confused.

"To school," Elena answered simply.

"We did not just make a safe house just so you could leave it," Damon said firmly.

Stefan agreed with his brother. "Yeah, Klaus is out there. You're vulnerable to him if you go to school."

"Where out there? No one knows," Elena argued. "I appreciate you guys trying to protect me. And I'll be able to sleep at night knowing I'm safe. But I'm not going to be a prisoner."

Stefan almost looked like he agreed with that statement. Damon still looked skeptical, but he said, "Your way, Elena."

"Don't worry," Bonnie said, "I'm ready. If Klaus shows his face, I can take him. I know how."

"The way I see it, next to Bonnie is the safest place I can be." Elena took Bonnie's hand and they walked out together. Stefan scoffed, and decided he wanted to go with them. He stopped at the door for me, but I shook my head. When they closed the door, I walked up to Damon.

"What are you hiding?"

Damon turned around like he had no idea what I was talking about. I gave him a look, which made him crack. "Bonnie, Jeremy and I went to get Bonnie's powers. She now has the power of a hundred of dead witches."

"Oh, and you wanted to keep that from me."

Damon started to walk closer to me. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." Damon was acting weird. _Can you say freak?_

"What are we going to do? We have the whole day. And the house to ourselves," I said, sitting on the couch. I could either visit Elijah again or Damon and I could talk strategy. Either way I was doing something with my time, so it didn't really matter to me. Someone kissing my neck broke me out of my thoughts. "Damon, I'm not going to sleep with you."

"Come on, please? I really want to do something and I'm bored. I think you are too. Just do it for me, please?"

"Damon, that's stupid. Just because you're bored doesn't mean you have to sleep with someone. So if you could just stop kissing me on the neck before I actually do give in, that'd be great." I probably shouldn't have said this because one thing led to another and I found myself in Damon's bed.

I tried to hide my bigass smile, but there was no denying that was some good sex.

"Damon," I began, "why do you do this? Why would you sleep with me if you love Elena?"

"Because I know I'm never going to get Elena, and you're the closest I can get."

It hurt me. It really did to know that I was just some kind of distraction. Sure, Damon was the same to me…but at least I didn't say it to his face. I got up, put on my clothes and walked downstairs. "Why the fuck don't you guys have a TV?"

Damon yelled back, "TV rots your brain."

"You're immortal, and you have super healing powers. Your brain can't rot."

"I have to keep it classy," Damon replied.

I mumbled to myself, "Says the one who just slept with his true love's sister."

* * *

><p>"What you're telling me is that Klaus compelled some girl to tell you that he wanted to dance with you?" I summed up. Elena nodded worriedly, making me laugh. Everyone looked at me with a scolding look. I stopped laughing.<p>

"And she mentioned you. She said that Klaus wanted you to save him the last dance," Bonnie added. _Oh, well that's just fine._

"So we just go to the dance and look for Klaus," Damon suggested. "Problem solved."

"Another problem, we don't even know what Klaus looks like," Stefan argues.

"Something tells me he's not going to be 16 with pimples," I said.

"He can be anywhere at any time. He compelled a girl at school. Guess it's not as safe as you guys thought, huh?"

There was a knock at the door. Alaric peeked his head in first before walking in completely. I was wondering when he'd show up. Sure he was a teacher that had to grade papers and make teacher plans, but he was still a part of the whole thing. He needed to show up on time.

"There you are, Ric," I commented. "Get over here." Ric stared at me weirdly, making me think back to the last time someone looked at me like that. _Klaus did. When we woke up on the bed together, we stared at each other._

"Sorry I'm late," he apologized.

"I need you to put me down as a chaperone at the dance," Damon requested. "Klaus made his first move today."

"So we find him, and then what? What's our plan of attack?" Elena questioned.

_More importantly, what am I wearing?_

Bonnie answered this time, "Me. I'm the plan. He has no idea how much power I can channel." _Bitch, I can channel the earth, including dead witches, and I still won't die. Now tell me if you can do that?_

_Sorry, Bons, just feeling a little cocky._

_Maybe 'cos I got some cock._

_Let's not talk about that._

_Good idea._

"If you can find him, I can kill him."

"It's not going to be that easy," Ric mentioned. "He _is _the biggest, baddest vampire around."

"Ric's right, guys," I agreed, "We're going to need more than that. What if he knows?"

Damon ran towards Bonnie, but she pushed him back with her powers before he could get anywhere close to her. I was kind of impressed, except the fact that I created my own motherfucking spell. _Suck on that Bonnie! You pushed a vampire back? I can compel a vampire! Suck on that shit, bitch!_

_You need to calm yo'self._

_You're right. I need to apologize to Bonnie._

_You didn't actually say it to her face, so it's okay._

_Okay._

"Well, I was impressed," Stefan said.

"It doesn't matter if he's an Original. I can take him. I can kill him, I know I can." Alaric almost looked like he was worried while Elena was smiling. I tried to smile non-arrogantly, but I just couldn't help myself. Bonnie was a good witch, but I was a superior one. I was the one other witches feared, the one who was so powerful, she created her own spell. Bonnie was okay, but I was fucking awesome.

"Now that we've got that out of the way, dresses. Stefan, take me to the boxes. I know you have to have some kind of 60's things up there," I requested. Stefan nodded, held out his hand for me, and I took it willingly. "Well, come on Elena." We all walked upstairs to the attic where there were many boxes.

"I think the 60's are over there." Stefan pointed to boxes in the middle of the room. Elena and I both grabbed a few, and started looking. "I'm going back to get my suit on."

He left the room, leaving it quiet as we rustled through the boxes. "What did you do all day?" Elena finally asked after a while.

"Nothing really," I said to her.

"You and Damon really did nothing all day?" This made me stop looking at things. I turned to Elena who was looking at me already with a knowing expression. "Hey, if you have something for him, you can just tell me. If you guys—"

I interrupted her, "Elena, I don't like him. Damon and I are just friends, and that's all. He's in love with you." Elena shook her head.

"Courtney, I won't be jealous. I have Stefan." _Knife to the heart. _"You can have one brother and I'll have the other. Stefan is mine." _Knife to the heart. _"And Damon is yours."

"Great. I think I like this one." I picked up a random dress, and decided to go change in Damon's room. Apparently I could have one brother while she could have the other like they were some kind of toys.

I found Damon changing in the room himself. "It's great that you both see each other as objects," I randomly said walking into the room and closing the door. Damon didn't even bother asking what I was talking about. I just changed into the dress that actually was very pretty.

It was a vintage black and yellowish color dress that's sleeves stopped mid-upper arm. The collar came up from my back high over my neck. It was a button up that let my chest show very much, making my breasts look bigger than they actually were. The dress skirt ended right above my knees. There was a black belt with a flower on the front that wrapped around my waist. All in all, the dress was adorable and it was one of the clothing articles that made me love the 60's. I added white socks and little black shoes with it to complete the outfit.

"You need to put your hair up big," Damon commented, looking at me. I nodded. I went back up to the attic to find that Elena had already left. Looking back in the boxes, I looked for something to elevate my hair. Before I could find anything, someone's hands were on my waist. "You truly look beautiful. You don't need the hair thing. You just need to add some bright red lipstick to look like one of those gorgeous girls."

"Oh, thank you, Damon. But you do know that I'm Courtney Gilbert, and comments like those won't work on me, right?"

"Can't I just compliment my best friend?"

"I guess. And you don't look so bad yourself."

* * *

><p>When Damon, Elena, Stefan and I all walked into the dance, there were many people that said hi to me. Many people said they missed me at school and that's when I realized how awesome I am. I'm the person everyone likes, and is popular. And I didn't even know I was that person. While walking with Damon, everyone seemed to notice me. It was the opposite. Instead of Elena being the center of attention, I was; I wasn't being ignored.<p>

Everyone was dancing and having a good time. I looked around for Klaus because I did know what he looked like, but I did it discreetly in case Damon asked what I was doing. I reminded myself that I needed to tell them what happened with me and Klaus before I came back. I needed to tell them that he was the one that hurt me and he was the one that made me go back to Mystic Falls. I hoped they wouldn't be mad because they really had no reason to be. I could have told them where he was but the possibilities of him still being in Pennsylvania were so unlikely.

"Are you having a good time?" Damon asked me as a slow song came on. Instead of answering, I put my head on his shoulder after nodding. He didn't say anything as we continued dancing. It was a few verses into the song when Dana started talking on the microphone. The music was turned down low as she said something to us.

"Thanks for coming, everybody!" We all clapped and cheered at the words. "We have two special shout-outs tonight. This is for Elena and Courtney. From Klaus."

_Oh, fucking shit._

* * *

><p><strong>So I'm sorry. I waited forever to post this, and I feel so bad. I'm sorry, but there was a bit of Klaus.<strong>

**BetterNameToCome- I honestly think that Damon would sleep with Courtney. He's sad and angry about everything, and he feels rejected by Elena. He seems like the kind of person who would do that. He sleeps with Andi, right? Courtney…not so much. I think that she wouldn't really be the kind of person who would do that on her own, but Damon did compel her. And that's the weird thing. Vampires can compel Courtney, even if she's a supernatural creature. You'll find out why later in the book. She still has to drink vervain to be protected from the whole thing.**

**Anyway, I hope to update sooner next time. I hope this was long enough.**

**katherineismikaelson**


	25. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

I looked at Damon who rolled his eyes at the whole thing. He took my hand so we could find Elena and Stefan, standing near the middle with the look of awe on their faces. Elena actually looked a bit scared about the whole thing, but Stefan looked skeptical. I felt a bit antsy of the whole thing. I was just afraid of what was going to happen next; finding out that I was with Klaus and I was lying to them. I mean, it's not like I lied to them really. I just didn't tell them the person who hurt me. They straight up lied to me, and compelled me. But it was still almost the same thing. Either way, they didn't know that Klaus and I use to share the same bed together.

"That was a lame, cheap shot," Damon scoffed. His scoff made me scoff. "He's just trying to bait us."

"I know everyone here." Elena scanned the crowd to see if there was anyone she didn't know. I realized that I didn't see him either.

"Maybe he's not here," Stefan offered. _Or maybe he is… He's just in disguise. _Klaus had witches. Maybe there was such spell that could make you control another person. You could tell them what to do even if they protested. Not like compulsion, more like body control. Maybe he took one of the teenagers control and they were doing his bidding.

"Maybe he just wants us to believe he's here," I said.

Damon tried to make the situation lighter. "It's a party, people! Dance!"

"You're right," Bonnie agreed, and she took my brother's hand to drag him off. I smiled at the couple because I truly thought they were cute together. I'd known Bonnie my whole life and I knew Jeremy my whole life. No two people could go together better than Bonnie and Jeremy.

"There's Ric," Damon pointed over to Alaric standing awkwardly. "We're going to talk to him." I followed Damon over to my ex-history teacher.

"Special dedication, huh?" Alaric looked like he was uncomfortable. While talking to Damon, he looked at me with…loving eyes? It was like he missed me or something…? It was probably because I dropped out of school and I wasn't in his class anymore. That's all… "This guy's a little twisted."

"I'm not impressed," Damon said.

"Really?" Alaric asked, with disappointment…? There was something going on with him. It couldn't be Klaus, could it? No… Alaric was a vampire hunter. There was no way he would let himself get taken down by a vampire, even if it was an Original vampire.

"Call me if you see anything out of whack," Damon informed him before walking away. I decided that I didn't want to follow Damon around all night, so I stayed with Ric. We stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. It's not like we could dance together because that would seem really weird. Dancing with a teacher, even if he was my ex-teacher, was weird. And maybe not legal since I was still underage.

"Ric, how are you—"

"You know, Courtney," Rick said vaguely. "I know you know."

_Klaus._

"What are you doing here? Why did you pick my teacher?" I asked in a hushed tone.

"You never returned my calls. When you did pick up, you didn't really say anything."

"Because you were the one who lied to me," I snarled angrily, yet quietly. "Even after I told you why I left Mystic Falls, you still lied and said nothing about hunting down my sister. And now here you are still hunting her down."

"It seems to me like you were hiding our relationship from everyone else," he guessed, making my furiousness disappear. "Look who's lying now."

With that, Ric walked away with a satisfied smile. But before he got too far, he turned around to put his finger to his lips. _Keep quiet. _And I had a feeling it was in my best interest I should.

I danced with random people, trying to get the whole thing off my mind. I knew that everyone was running 'round thinking and talking about Klaus, but I just wanted to forget it all. I needed to have at least one night of fun before I got back to the whole 'Save Elena's Ass' thing. It was our number one priority, but still, I deserved a little fun. While scheming with Katherine, mourning with Elena and sleeping with the Salvatores, I was worn out.

Then I was pulled right back in when Ric pulled me away from my dancing partner. He had a firm grip on my upper arm as we left the gym. "Where are we going?"

He didn't answer my question, but when we stopped in the hall, I already knew the answer. "Stay here," he instructed. "When I call for you to come out, you come out. Alright?"

He left me right where I was. I didn't even bother to walk away or text Damon or Stefan to say that I knew who Klaus was. I just stood there like Ric (I guess I should start calling him Klaus) instructed me to, like the little bitch I was. Maybe I was turning into Katherine; keeping secrets, playing for the other team. I was literally on three sides. I wanted to save Elena, free Katherine, and help Klaus get what he wanted. But maybe there was no way you could be on three sides.

Maybe I was really on my own side.

If I was really dedicated to Elena, I would have told her about my time away from Mystic Falls, the whole story. Then I'd tell Katherine to stick it, and I'd fight harder and not try to get in as many fights with her. If I was really on Katherine's side, I would have sucked it up about her being selfish, told Elena that I loved my mother, and been there to know where that man took Katherine. If I was really on Klaus's side, I'd announce to both Katherine and Elena they were major bitches, walked away, went back to find Klaus and tell him where Elena was. Maybe I was just really the selfish one. Maybe I wanted everyone else happy so _I _could be happy. Was that selfish?

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard footsteps coming down the hall.

"Where's Jeremy?" It sounded like Bonnie's voice.

The footsteps stopped after the question. Ric laughed. "I just needed to get away from that dance. The sixties? Really? Who came up with that? I personally prefer the twenties much better. The style, the jazz, the women." I could just _hear _the puzzled expressions on their faces while Ric was talking. It was most definitely Klaus talking.

"Alaric?" Elena questioned. "Are you on vervain?"

"Why would you ask me that question?"

"He's been compelled," Elena accused. _Elena, what the fuck? Are you so dumb that you can't put that together? Even if he was compelled, he wouldn't be talking about the twenties. I know Ric's old, but he isn't that old._

"Nope, try again," Ric piped, but they both said nothing. He sighed. "I'll give you a hint: I'm not Alaric."

I decided it was my turn to intervene. "He's Klaus." I came from behind the wall. Elena and Bonnie stared at me with wide eyes as I stood behind Ric.

"Surprise!" Ric said sarcastically, waving his hands around. Elena whispered something I didn't care to make out because I was too busy having a stare-down with Bonnie. "Don't worry Elena, you're not going to die tonight." His eyes shifted to Bonnie. "But you are."

Ric lurched forward towards Bonnie, but she threw him back with her awesome witch powers. I took this chance to run to Elena, so I could get her away from the whole thing. I knew Klaus wasn't going to do anything while I was there, but I still wanted to get them away from him. He was tricky and powerful and I had no right to doubt that he was planning something besides killing Bonnie. I wanted to help Bonnie, but I just couldn't. For one, he was in Alaric's body and there was no way I was hurting him. And second, he was Klaus; even though he broke my heart the first time (before Stefan did), I still had some feelings for him somewhere.

He got up laughing at Bonnie. "Did I mention I know witch? You are going to hit me a lot harder than that."

So she did. Bonnie threw Klaus far back into the trophy case, glass flying everywhere. I almost chuckled when I saw him chuckling while trying to get up…again. "Fire away. If you kill this body, I'll just get a new one. Maybe Jeremy."

"Go," Bonnie demanded. "Run." I took Elena's hand and Bonnie's so we could run out of the hall. Bonnie let go of mine, only to close the doors behind us with her super powers. We ran into a hall where Damon was.

"What happened?" he questioned, staring at the three of us panting.

"Klaus is in Ric's body," I answered simply.

"He's possessing it or something," Bonnie continued, breathing heavily. I honestly didn't think that the run was that hard, but I was a supernatural, so I guess my opinions were different then humans'.

"Run," Damon demanded to Elena. "Go! Run, now!" Elena took off running while I decided to stay behind and help Bonnie. Damon gave me eyes to run, but I shook my head. He didn't try to press on the matter anymore. "Can you kill him?"

Bonnie shook her head. "He's got some kind of protection spell. I don't know if I can."

"You have the power of a hundred witches. Break it."

"If I kill Alaric, Klaus will just possess another body. That won't work. He knows that I have my powers. He's trying to kill me because of it," Bonnie explained, which make Damon even more frustrated. I was just waiting for someone to say something about my powers. If they forgot that I was witch, they really weren't as bright as I thought them to be.

"No," Damon denied, talking to himself. "Klaus is not going to win tonight. Are you still willing to do whatever it takes?" Bonnie hesitated before nodding. _What is Damon planning? _"Courtney, you're the best at this."

"What are you talking about?"

"Acting."

I smiled at Damon. I was starting to see what he was getting at. He wanted me or Bonnie to do something that would trick someone. It was something I had been doing all that time, so of course I would know a thing or two about lying straight to someone's face. "Tell me the plan."

"Bonnie, Klaus wants you dead. So you die. Except you don't," Damon said. Bonnie tilted her head a bit.

I cut in. "I think what he means is acting like you're dead. You show Klaus that you weren't all that powerful, drop to the floor, and pretend to be dead. Then everyone is sad and mourning over your death, we tell them you're alive and Klaus thinks there's one less witch in the way." I looked at Damon to see if I got his plan. Damon smiled at me.

"We're going to do this, and we're going to do this right," Bonnie agreed. "Even if it means scaring Elena to the point of crying. I still need to get her back from her humiliating April Fool's joke. This is the perfect way. And I think I know a spell to pretend dead. This whole thing will be my fake death. But I need one of you to take me back to the house where the witches died." She explained to us what needed to happen in order for it to work.

"We all got the plan? Bonnie, you trick Klaus, and Damon and I will trick Elena." They both nodded, and Bonnie took off back in the direction of Ric/Klaus. "Damon, to tell a lie, you have to believe the lie. To succeed in a lie, you have to live the lie. Basically, think it's real even though you know it's not."

"Shut up," Damon scoffed. "I've lied many times before."

"No, you've compelled," I corrected. "Not lied. _I _am a genius at lying. I am the queen. You'll just have to follow my lead."

I started walking in the direction Elena ran with Damon trailing after me. We walked the halls, avoiding the dance in the gym, before we found Stefan and Elena running. I got my game face on because I knew that lying to Elena would take a lot. Not telling her I was working with Katherine took a lot, even though I didn't show it. I was feeling like I betrayed her and lied to her the way she lied to me. And that was a good feeling. It was just that I was naturally amazing at lying and there was no way I was going to let the secret out. I was just as bad as Elena in the lying situation, but at least I wasn't going to get caught.

"Where's Bonnie?" Elena asked.

Damon sighed. "Just let her do this," he said vaguely. I looked at his face and realized that he actually could make it somewhere in the acting business. Of course he would never be as good as me (yes, I'm feeling arrogant), but he was somewhat good.

"Where is she, Damon?" Stefan demanded. Damon didn't say anything, so they both turned to me. "Where is she?"

"She wanted to do this. I couldn't stop her," I lied, sounding guilty. "She wants to save Elena, I want to save Elena, _you _want to save Elena. How could I stop her?" Elena looked at me with disgusted eyes, and took off running. Stefan followed her as Damon decided to stay with me. I felt horrible. "Did you see the way she looked at me?" I wondered to Damon in a sad tone. "She looked at me the way she looks at you. With _disappointment._"

"Courtney, it's all a part of the plan. She'll understand once we tell her," Damon reassured. I shook my head and looked at him.

"But I just lied to her. I lied to her the way she lied to me. I may be an actress, but that look…"

Damon shook his head. _I knew he couldn't take it. When he shares his feelings, I'm there. I'll listen and comfort and say good things about him. I'll even fucking sleep with him to make him feel better! But when I share my feelings, it's overrated. I'm overreacting or being a baby. I'm just done with his horrible attitude about our relationship._

"Courtney, you need to suck it up. We have work to do," Damon scolded.

"Fuck you, Damon," I snarled, "I hope you don't get Elena because you truly don't deserve her. If you can't act the way you act when you're around Elena with other people, then you're not good enough."

I could tell Damon was surprised. "What?"

Instead of answering his question, I just left Damon there to think about it. I went to find Elena and Stefan, who were standing at the doors of the cafeteria, where Bonnie locked herself, with Klaus, in. Elena kept yelling at Bonnie to open the door. I knew that she wasn't going to be opening the doors until we completed the plan. And I had to say, Bonnie was a better actress than I expected. She pretended to die like a queen, she stopped breathing like a queen, and she played dead like a queen. I was starting to think I should let Bonnie in on more secrets. Not secrets as big as _Katherine's side_ secrets, but secrets.

Once the lights went off, the doors burst open. Elena and Stefan ran to a _dead _Bonnie while I just slowly walked to the entrance. "She didn't even kill him," I mumbled, trying to make it more dramatic. But the tears weren't fake. It really did hurt me to see my best friend lying dead on the floor, even if I knew she was faking. I just let them slowly fall from my eyes without even making a big deal.

Elena kept yelling at Stefan to help her revive Bonnie, but all he said was, "She's gone." Elena cried even harder from then on. I heard footsteps behind me; Damon's footsteps. He didn't give me a look or say anything as he walked past into the cafeteria where my sister and her boyfriend were crying over a dead witch.

"Stefan, get Elena out of here," was all Damon said. "I'll deal with the body." _What the hell, Damon? We're acting, but you don't have to be your regular asshole self._

"What do you mean 'deal with the body'?" Elena questioned harshly.

"The Sheriff can't find out about this. We can't have another mysterious death."

"This is Bonnie!" Elena screamed at him. More tears fell down her cheeks.

"Get her out of here…now," Damon instructed to Stefan. Elena cried even more as Stefan followed Damon's instructions. Elena whined about Jeremy, and Damon replied, "I'll find him." Stefan literally had to drag her out of the cafeteria. But she didn't go without a fight.

When they passed me, she yelled in my face, "How could you? That's Bonnie! Bonnie, our best friend! I know that you were gone for a month, but how could you? You've known her for a long time." When I didn't say anything, she didn't yell in my face, she just harshly said mellow, "You're just as sick as him."

That's when Stefan dragged her farther away from the whole scene. I wiped away the tears and bent down next to Damon. He faked a smile my way, but I didn't bother to do anything friendly.

"Good job," I mumbled before getting up and walking out. Behind me, I could hear Damon pick her up and carry her out with us. Instead of trying to find Jeremy like a good sister should, I went to Damon's car and waited for him. I watched as he put Bonnie in the back and watched him break the news to Jeremy. I felt like shit.

"What did you do with her?" Elena demanded, getting up from her chair. I closed the door behind us and Damon asked Stefan to calm her down. "Don't talk like I'm not standing right in front of you. You knew! You knew that if she harnessed all that power that she would die, didn't you?"

"Yes," Damon answered simply. "I knew."

Then next thing Elena did shocked all of us. Elena slapped Damon with a satisfying smack. I almost laughed at Damon in the situation, but I didn't because I knew this wasn't the time. Elena was genuinely angry about the whole thing and I had no right to laugh in front of them. Plus I had to stay in character.

Then she turned to me. "You sick bitch. You knew it too! And you let my best friend, not only yours, but MY best friend die? How dare you? She was, IS the person you grew up with. And you just bid her off like that?"

"Elena, listen to what I'm about to say," Damon said slowly, gaining her attention. Sure it hurt a little that Elena called me a bitch, but if the roles were reversed, I'd do the same thing. It's not like I was totally innocent the in whole situation. I did lie to her, and she still didn't know I was lying, so yeah, I was a bitch. "Bonnie had to die. Klaus was using Alaric's body, he wasn't going to stop until he knew that she was dead. He had to believe it." Damon took a long pause before he started again. "She cast a spell. Bonnie's okay."

Elena's face was surprised, yet relieved and happy all in one. It was like she would scream if she could and dance with unicorns while eating a rainbow. Damon walked away before they could say something to him. I nodded then opened the door to sit outside. There was no point in staying here because Elena was just going to yell at me for letting Bonnie die without telling her, so I had to get away. Ani was the only person who came to mind when I thought of getting away. So I stood up, thought of Ani's room, and when I opened my eyes, I was an inch away from her bed.

I sat down, waiting for her, as I heard someone coming up the stairs. The door opened to Ani eating a banana. When she saw me, she jumped, making the banana fall to the floor. "Good lord, child," Ani gasped, staring at me. I laughed. "Don't just do that. I still have a beating heart unlike your friends, and it could stop at any moment."

"Sorry about that," I apologized. Ani stopped being scared, and her face changed to worry. I knew that she could tell I was upset. She knew me so well and we only knew each other for a few days. That just proves how awesome I am; so interesting that we could only know each other for a day and you'd know me.

"What happened?"

"Klaus. Klaus happened."

"Where's Elena?" Damon demanded through the phone with a firm tone. I opened my eyes groggily and looked over to Ani still sleeping on the other side of the bed. When I didn't say anything, Damon demanded the question again.

"What are you talking about?" I wondered with a tired voice.

"You don't know where she is," he mumbled, more to himself than me. "Dammit…"

I knew that it should have woken me up that Damon didn't know where my sister was, but it really didn't. I wasn't in the mood to know where Elena was because I was busy having too much fun with the normal life. I planned on sleeping in and not waking up until the afternoon like what normal teenagers would do. I hoped I didn't have to deal with any supernatural things for the day, but I was obviously wrong. Because Elena had to go off and decide that she wanted to create some shit and just run off. But being the sister that I was, I had to find Elena, even when I promised myself I wouldn't get in that kind of stuff anymore.

"Sorry, Damon. I don't know where Elena is. Call back later," I said into the phone, immediately hanging up after. Damon called again three times after that, but I didn't bother picking up. There was no point in listening to something I didn't care about, as careless as it sounds. I deserved one day to myself, so I was going to take it. Ani and I were going to have a normal girls' day and no one was going to interrupt it. No one from my life was going to make me feel like I had to go back to the nightmare that was my life.

So there was one person. It was the bitch herself, Elena Gilbert. She called me saying that my aunt had now found out about the whole thing. The whole vampire thing.

Her: "Jenna knows. And she's freaking out. What do I do? She won't talk to me, she's crying… Courtney, I'm freaking out."

My reply: "I told you so."

We had a whole conversation about talking to Jenna, but I decided that I wasn't going to get caught up in that. Sure, Jenna would be mad at me too for knowing the whole thing too, but at least she'd understand that I was lied to too. But unlike Jenna, every time _I _found out about vampires, I'd be the one who got compelled. So let's just say when it comes to finding out about vampires, you can guess who had it worse.

Ani tried to convince me to stay a little longer with her, but I decided if there was any way to escape from my life, disappearing with Ani wasn't the way. So I had to say my goodbyes and leave for the Salvatore house to get Jenna by noon. At least I had a semi-normal morning with breakfast, girl-talk-time, and nails being painted. If was going to get yelled at by my aunt, and get hated by Damon when I ignored him, I was going to be in hell, however I still had my nails looking badass, so I guess I could get through the day.

I walked straight into the Salvatore house to find Stefan listening in on Elena and Jenna's conversation. I walked right past him without any eye contact and found Elena and Jenna hugging it out on the couch.

"Move, Elena," I demanded, pushing her out of the seat next to Jenna. Instead of protesting, Elena moved right out of the way, and Jenna curled up into my arms. Elena stared at us for a second, but it wasn't until after I gave her a harsh look when she walked out to Stefan. I listened to them talk about Jenna, and a little bit of me.

"How long did you know?" Jenna asked, causing me to lose track of what they were saying. I looked down at my crying aunt, and realized how fragile I must have seemed when I found out. Of course I was freaking out and yelling, but Jenna was just gentle and hurt. She didn't yell like I did; she didn't throw a fit like I did. She just lied there in my arms, and softly asked questions while tears were running down her face.

"Believe me, Jenna. She hid it from me too. But instead of letting me know, she had Stefan and Damon compel me into forgetting." I went into the whole spiel about vampires and compulsion. And the whole time she was quiet, and listening. She didn't interrupt once. I was in awe, how well she was handling this. She handled it in a much more mature way than I did.

"How do I do this? How can I know the secret of vampires?" She whispered more questions I didn't bother answering because I knew there was no right answer. There was no solution to knowing about vampires and all the crazy shit that was now her life. I just hoped that she could handle it all better than I did. They don't need me, I'm just the sister. But Jenna? Elena and Jeremy need Jenna in their lives. Jenna is essential.

I heard something going on outside, piquing my interest.

"I'll just be a moment," I told Jenna, pushing her out of my arms. (Unlike something I would do) Jenna nodded slowly, wrapped her arms around herself, and curled up on the couch herself. I checked on Jenna at the doorway before heading in the hallway to find Damon holding onto Elena, holding onto Stefan, who had his hand on Damon's arm. I previously heard them arguing about letting Elena go. Obviously things escalated quickly. But that didn't stop me from ruining the whole cliché moment. (Seriously, I can't stand clichés. You know that.) "Let him go, Stefan," I ordered, walking closer towards them. Everyone's eyes were on me. Including the whore standing behind Damon.

"Courtney, you're not in this. Just—"

I interrupted Stefan by saying, "Just shut the fuck up, and let your brother go. And Damon, last time I checked you're not the fucking boss, so let my sister go before I have to whoop your ass."

Like a miracle (seriously, I did not expect them to listen to me that quickly), they all let go of each other. Elena smiled at me briefly before running out the door to go back to Elijah, I think. Stefan gave me questioning look. I tried to avoid his eyes. But that didn't work out so much because he grabbed my arm and dragged me outside. Right to the place I dragged him to yell at him for breaking me apart.

"What the hell was that?" Stefan demanded.

"That was me telling you that you need to stop putting your hands on everyone who doesn't give you what you want," I answered smugly. "Seriously though, violence is never the answer. Except when you play Call of Duty. Then it's war."

"This is not a game," Stefan snapped at me. "Courtney, you need to stop acting like life is a little board game, and that it's not really serious. You know what happens in games? Someone wins and many lose."

I put on a smile and called him out. My finger was in his face as I said, "But that doesn't matter. Only if you have fun. Then you're the real winner."

Stefan snatched my hands and held them to _our _chests. "Be serious for once. Elena's life is on the line."

I faked a serious expression, but I still had evidence of sarcasm traced in my voice. "Sorry, I forgot again. Everything is about Elena." Stefan's expression turned even angrier, but the next sentence I said made him a little softer. "But let's not forget: my life is tied to Elena's so if she dies, I die."

There was silence between for several seconds.

"I'm sorry," he finally said, this time avoiding _my _eyes. "I did forget about that."

"It's okay," I chirped, "Elena's life will always be more important than mine." Stefan stared into my eyes intently after I said this, making me sober up from my playful attitude.

"Why do you always say that?" he inquired truthfully. "Why do you always think you're second best?"

"Because that's how you, Damon, and everyone else in this fucking town act. I'm never going to be equal or superior to Elena. I never have. Her opinion matters more to you than mine. Her words will have more of an impact than my actions. And I've been telling you all that since the fucking day I knew! …No! Before that. Since the time I decided to take a day off because my best friend was brutally murdered by my other friend. Elena may have a shitty life, but I have a shittier one. I bet she couldn't go an hour feeling how I feel every time you guys ignore me or tell me that Elena is going to be put first. Because her life is on the line. Well wake the fuck up because my life is linked to hers! I wish someone would just listen for once to what I have to say. The one person who did is now dead! And the one who is alive is crying on the couch because ELENA lied to her."

"I'm sorry," was all he had to say.

_I'm fucking sorry is all he has to fucking say? Bullshit._

I pulled my hands from his angrily, and tried to walk past him, but Stefan wouldn't let me. Every time I went right, he would go the same way as me, blocking my path. "Would you fucking move?"

"I love you."

_He…fucking… What? He says… bullshit… Not funny. Not fucking funny at all._

"Stefan, I'm about this close to slapping you." I hold up my pointer and thumb to show the small distance of time there is before some slap action.

"I love you both," Stefan admitted, not caring about my warning. "I heard somewhere that if you're in love with two people, you should pick the second one because you never would have fallen in love with the second if you really loved the first. I really love you, and not Elena. So kiss me. Kiss me and you'll see."

_My cliché meter is above one thousand. But I'll fucking kiss him anyway._

And that's what I did.

**Hey guys! So I'm trying to decide if I should end this book here (end of season 2 of The Vampire Diaries), or if I should keep going? What do you think? Maybe I could end this one so I could start another, and when I end that one I could just pick back up on this series. Or should I make this a really long book with many chapters? Just leave your opinion in the reviews. Thanks!**

**Katherineismikaelson**

**P.S. I sorry I didn't update for a while. I was gone on a trip to Florida and I didn't get time to update. So sorry. But I hope to update more. Okay, now bye.**


	26. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

I thought I made the worst mistake of my life was when I was eleven years old. When I decided I'd let Vicki talk me into eating the brownies her 'friend' gave her, and it turned out that they were weed brownies. Then I went home to my parents without even thinking about the whole drugs thing, and I got caught. I was grounded from seeing Vicki (even though I did it anyway) and I wasn't allowed to have any sugar for a while. I learned that if I was offered any brownies, I'd sniff them first.

No. The worst mistake I've ever made was when I decided I'd let myself fall for Stefan Salvatore. The guy my sister was in love with. The guy I was now in love with. I had just ruined any chance of ever having a good relationship with my sister. And if I was on the outs with Elena, I was on the outs with everyone. They all cared about Elena's opinion more than mine, so I was going seven feet under. No redemption from hurting your sister's feelings.

So when I kissed Stefan Salvatore, I officially declared myself (in my mind) that I was the stupidest, most idiotic _thing _to ever walk the earth. What the hell was I getting myself into? Klaus was truly a bad choice, but I wouldn't take it back. But Stefan? Worst mistake. If I had a chance to take back my feelings for him, and not potentially hurt my sister I would. But alas, I cannot. The world is not a place where you can just wish for something and it'll happen. That's only for cancer kids. Me? I'm a dumbass kid. There's a difference.

When I pulled away from Stefan's lips, I realized that I was in for one hell of a ride. I loved him. I love the way he cared so passionately for my sister, and how he would defy not only Elena, but Damon's wishes to keep Elena happy for me. I loved how he would secretly do shit behind everyone's back with me even though he was the good brother. Stefan was the kind of person I admired and thought was a fucking awesome person. Too bad I was fucking up, and falling in love with him. Too bad he was falling in love with me…

…because there was going to be some shit when he found out that I was dating Klaus for a while.

The guy who was hunting down my sister, the guy who even Katherine is afraid of; the guy who wants to be King. Though I didn't know at the time I would have such a sweet, deceitful relationship with Stefan making me feel such complete bliss whenever I was with him. I didn't know that Klaus would find Elena so much later that I would actually have time to have a relationship with someone. Klaus was just fucking up everything, wasn't he?

Then, while I was snogging Stefan, Elena was off somewhere probably fucking something up, making us all pay for it in the end. So my life was at an all-time low and there was nothing I could do about. All I could do was just wait for it all to unfold. And while waiting, I was kissing my sister's boyfriend.

"Stefan," I breathed, leaning my forehead against his, "I don't know if this is going to work."

"It won't," he agreed. "But at least we'll have each other."

For some reason that made me smile. Whatever Stefan said, it would have a heightened impact on me than if someone else said it. If Damon said some cliché shit like that, I'd laugh in his face and tell him to grow some balls. But when Stefan said it, there was a part of me that just absolutely melted at his words while the other part smiled like a drunk bitch. Stefan was fucking me up in so many ways (yes, mind in the gutter) and I was totally okay with it.

Fucking lovesick puppy. Yes, that was me.

"Alright," Stefan concluded after we stopped kissing again. He held my hands tighter as he continued, "We'll tell everyone when Elena is saved. When Klaus is dead. But in the meantime, we just have to keep it on the down low."

"Yeah, yeah." I stared at the ground beside his foot. _I am in some serious bullshit. _"Yeah."

We walked back together into the house without looking too suspicious. Stefan and I decided that we'd pretend to still be mad at each other. Even if I was getting mad feelings for Stefan still. And Damon believed the whole act. I was honestly half-assing it all; the fight with Stefan in front of him, the dirty looks and the snarky comments. I was surprised Damon was that easy to fool. If he was that _easy, _then I needed to play jokes on him more often.

I walked upstairs for a second to go to the bathroom, and I already heard fighting. I stopped at the top of the stairs and sighed. _I seriously leave them for literally two fucking seconds and they're already fighting? What fucking babies… Should I really even bother? I mean, this was bound to happen. Maybe I should just let it happen…?_

I turned around to go back downstairs. There was no point in getting yelled at by Elena for letting them fight. She cared for them both and she didn't want them to get hurt…or some shit like that. I wasn't really paying attention to her when she was talking about that.

But by the time I got down there, Elena was already at the other doorway with Elijah to yell at them.

"Stop!" she demanded as soon as she saw them fighting. I leaned on the frame of the doorway to get comfortable and watch the trainwreck unfold.

"Now you've invited him in?" Damon scoffed with a harsh look.

"Elijah and I have renewed the terms of our deal," Elena replied, not even bothering to answer Damon's question. _Hah, you get a taste of what it feels like to be ignored, Damon._

Damon's face changed to confusion. "What?"

Elijah spoke, "The two of you will come to no harm at my hands. I only ask for one thing in return." I knew from the moment Elijah walked in that it was going to be something good. Now he was asking for something? Damon would not have it.

"What?"

"An apology."

While Stefan looked hopeful, Damon looked like he would vomit. I held in my laugh at the idea of Damon apologizing to someone. That's just like asking Klaus to plead for something. There was no way in hell that Damon was doing such a thing. Not even God Himself could make Damon apologize to anyone. Let alone Elijah. But there was always the factor of Elena asking him to apologize. For her, he'd jump off a fucking cliff as many times as she pleased.

"A what?" Damon asked rhetorically. They exchanged a few looks between the four of them, then Stefan took a step forward. I knew he was going to be the brother that would do shit like that. Me personally? I would tell Elijah to suck my dick (not that I have one, but if I did I would tell Elijah to suck it). He ain't getting no damn apology. Damon and I weren't all that different.

"I'm sorry for the part I played in your death," Stefan apologized reluctantly. "I was protecting Elena." _Of course you were. _"I will always protect Elena." _Of course you will._

"I understand," Elijah replied staring Stefan straight in the eyes. If Stefan was gay, I would totally play cupid and hook them up. They had a little _Stelijah _bromance going on. It was cute.

Everyone's eyes then turned to Damon who was shaking his head with a dirty expression on his face. I let myself enjoy the sight by giggling a bit. No one noticed because they were too busy shaming Damon for his actions.

Elena said, "The sacrifice will happen, Damon. Elijah and I were talking about it. Bonnie will be able to do the spell without killing herself and Elijah has found a way to save my life. I told you I'd find another way, and I did." Elena looked a little too proud of herself. I mean, she should be, don't get me wrong, but for some reason it angered me. It was like every little thing she did made me feel like I needed to make her pay. I scoffed at the way she brushed her hair one time. I even got annoyed by hearing her breathe. It was honestly scaring me a bit.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"And you trust him?" Damon asked with disgust laced in his tone.

"I am," Elena replied confidently. But what Damon said next threw us all off.

"Then you can all go to hell."

Damon walked out of the room right after that. Elena looked like she was going to throw something (because she didn't get what she wanted); Elijah looked surprised, and Stefan looked like he was expecting it. So was I. I just didn't expect him to say that to Elena. Elijah and Stefan of course, but not Elena. She was his true love; how could he say that? I thought he wanted her to reciprocate those feelings, but obviously he was throwing all his hard work away. All my persuading Elena to fall for him away. There was no way I was going to waste my time on getting Elena to like him if he was just going to throw it all away with a couple of words.

"He's angry with me right now," Stefan said, excusing his brother. "But he'll come around."

"I doubt that," I whispered to myself. I ignored the rest of their conversation to go up to Damon's room. He was of course upset about the whole thing, and there was no way of making him feel better. I wasn't going to sleep with him, kiss him or any of the shit you're thinking of. I was going to comfort him by being there was a friend.

Weird thing was that the whore I saw behind him earlier ran out of his room and down the stairs half naked, only in her underwear. Like her "bra and panties" underwear. She also had a bite on her neck that was still gushing blood so I guess Damon got a little rough in bed. Although, the few minutes he was gone he couldn't have gotten any, could he? Unless his girl was also a vampire so they could have quick vampire sex. But it wouldn't make sense because he bit her…? Either way, Damon needed some coddling.

"Damon?" I called when I walked into his room. I knocked on the door even though I was already walking in the room. He was on the floor next to his fireplace with blood dripping from his chin. (And if you're wondering, yes, Damon was fully clothed. That lady was just being the whore she was and got bit in the end, so who the hell cared if she lived or not?)

"Go away," he snapped slowly. I knew that he was mad about the whole thing with the apology and the _Saving Elena _plan going to shit, but he was seriously just throwing a temper tantrum now.

"Damon, you need someone. I'll be that someone, but later you'll have to pay me back," I joked while slowly walking in. "Now come over here so you can cry on my—"

I was cut off by the touch of Damon's hand wrapped around my throat and the impact of the wall on my back. His eyes were now his little vampire demon eyes, yet it didn't scare me. I didn't bother using my witchy powers on him because even though he was in love with Elena, Damon would never physically hurt me. (Note that I said physically hurt me, and not emotionally. Because he's fucked with my emotions so many times, it's not even funny.)

"I said go away," he repeated in a much lower tone. _This _scared me a bit because he sounded dead serious. "I want you to leave before I do something _you'll _regret."

"Damon," I mumbled as clearly as I could, but remember, there was a hand blocking my airway. "You are upset. I get that, but you can't shut me out. Not now. Not when you are hurt."

"Why won't you women realize that I just need to be left the fuck alone sometimes?" Damon seemed like he truly meant what he was saying and that was the thing that made a shiver run down my back. He really didn't want to have anyone talk to him. That was his weakness. He wouldn't let anyone in which turned off Elena. He was more sensitive than Stefan was. He got hurt more easily than Stefan. He just shows his feelings in a bad way.

"Fine," I grit trying to peel Damon's hand of my throat. "I'm trying to be a good friend here, but obviously you can't get over yourself for one second, so sorry. I'll just go." I pushed Damon far away from me and walked out. I usually stayed in Damon's room, so I had to go find a spare to sleep for the night. I knew that by the same time tomorrow Damon and I would have made up, but I still didn't want to sleep in the same room as a baby.

I eventually found a room after walking around for a while. Elijah, Stefan and Elena were still talking about something but I didn't bother to listen. I was just going to the room to get some sleep and forget about the whole fight with Damon. I was trying to be a good person and make him feel better, but he wasn't going to let me. So sleeping in another room was just going to have to do. Then I'd try again in the morning and hopefully have more success.

And guess who was waiting in the room for me?

The little witch bitch Klaus had working for him.

I blacked out.

* * *

><p>I woke up on a couch next to Katherine. She was staring at me with a needy look, but instead of saying anything, I looked back at her with a confused expression. She shook her head like she was giving up on something. Then she mouthed, "<em>Are you okay?"<em>

I mouthed back, _"I'm fine. You?"_

_"__Klaus."_

We didn't get much farther in the conversation because _Klaus _decided to make his grand appearance. "'Ello, love. Finally awake, are we?" I looked over at him to see the same devious smile he had when I woke up to him that one morning. All he had was different clothes, and a cockier attitude; I could just tell that from the smile on his face. And his eyes were just glowing confidence.

After I looked at him, I took in the apartment I was in. I was obviously on a nice couch, black leather, with a cute coffee table in front. Then there was a flat-screen TV just a few feet away, making a walkway through the TV and the coffee table. A few feet left of the living room was the kitchen. It was kind of small, yet it still had all the essentials to be a kitchen. Past the kitchen was a hallway that I assumed led to the bedrooms. All in all, the little apartment was cute, and I had to admit, Ric had some good taste.

A few seconds later, after taking in everything, I answered Klaus's question with another one. "Finally put the pieces together, haven't we?"

"Katerina, I want you to forget everything you hear after this point, alright?" Klaus compelled her. Katherine nodded with a blank expression on her face, but I still wasn't convinced she was compelled. Though she was cut off from vervain all this time, I was still a little skeptical of her compulsion. "Greta, don't you have a vampire to catch?"

The witch behind Klaus, and next to the other one nodded, grabbing the other witch's arm and dragging him out the door. Klaus then turned to me with a cute smile that made me want to just kiss him until the end of time. (His dimples were showing so I had to just love the shit of that guy.)

Klaus didn't sit down, but he got closer to me on the couch. Katherine stared at us talking, but she put a confused expression on to keep up with the whole compulsion. _Still feeling as though she isn't really compelled… But whatever, I still have an asshole in front of me that I have to deal with._

Klaus continued, "I guess we need to talk about some things. Like the fact one of _my _witches says _you're _a witch yourself. Is that true?"

I scoffed at him. "Why? Should I tell you something so you can just make me fall in love with you again, and then lie to me? Klaus, I'll pass."

He chuckled, yet he didn't look like he was amused. "Are you really still angry about our little time together?" Klaus questioned bitterly. "Really? You still haven't gotten over me yet? You really should because I've gotten over you."

"Klaus, you kissed me, told me you liked me, a lot, and then you lied to me. No shit I'm going to be a little hostile about the whole thing," I retorted back. I scoffed at Klaus once more and turned my head away from him. I turned my head right to see a bookcase with a stereo on top of it with a few CDs next to it. _Ric really has something cute going on here. I'm glad that he decided that he'd move to this town just so I could see what a cutie-pants he really is. Seriously, this is like my dream apartment. Not too big and not too small. Ric has some taste, I'll give him that._

"Courtney," Klaus hummed, breaking me out of my daze. "I think that we should talk about your sister, hmm?"

"Yes. Let's talk about how selfish you're being!" I yelled at him. "You are trying to sacrifice my sister because you have the sick dream of becoming something no one can match. You want to prove to your father that you're not the pathetic piece of shit he thought you were. I might add that he was right." Klaus's face turned from amused to angry in an instant with this sentence. "And you are killing my sister instead of letting _me _kill her! You insensitive little bitch!"

It took me a minute to regain my composure and realize what I had just said. Klaus's face was surprised at my rant, and I could get why. I looked over at Katherine who, while still looking surprised, kept up her act of not remembering anything. I looked back at Klaus who now had a smile on his face.

"You want to do what to your sister?" he repeated with a smug tone in his voice. I quickly got up and my hands fled to his neck. I wasn't sure how I did it, but I had Klaus up on a wall in half a second with my hands to his neck. I was just a mere witch and Klaus was a fucking Original vampire, but it almost seemed like he was struggling against my power.

"_Compulsion est amicus tuus,_" I mumbled before saying, "You will forget anything and everything I said about killing my sister."

I fled back to my seat where Katherine was staring at me with wide eyes. Klaus woke up from his daze and looked around like he was confused. Now by his expression, I could truly tell that it worked. Why would Klaus be on vervain when he believed that no one could compel him? Which was half true, but I just happened to be an exception. Though he didn't have to know anything about that, or neither did anyone else. I just had to get Katherine off the vervain I suspected she was taking (which explained why she was resisting compulsion, but there was still the question of how she got it) and compel her with my witch magic to forget anything she saw.

Klaus tried to move on from the whole confusing scene by coming back to talk to me again. "I'm not sure what just happened, but you don't understand. I've wanted this for—"

I interrupted him irritably with, "I've wanted to be with my true love for years now, but we don't always get what we want, now do we?" Klaus looked down to the ground, away from my annoyed eyes. He knew I was right, but I had a feeling he wasn't thinking about that. He was thinking about what I said about my true love.

"What are you talking about? There was someone before me?"

_He really thinks he's the only one? He's more of a selfish bastard than I thought._

"Yes, of course there was. His name was Ryan," I told Klaus, and Katherine. "I loved him with all my heart. He made me feel so happy, it was almost like walking on sunshine. We had only known each other for a short time, but I felt like I had to at least have known him my whole life. And I wanted to know him for the rest of my life. I wanted to be with him for the rest of my life."

There was silence as I thought of his smile. His voice. His touch. Sadly I hadn't seen his picture in a while, not ever since the dream I had of him, so it was a bit hard to remember the sweet, giddy feeling of seeing his face. The feeling of kissing him, the feeling of holding him, and the feeling of loving him. Sure, I was moving on with other people, but there was no denying that I'd always have a place somewhere in my heart for Ryan; my first love.

"What happened?" Klaus asked.

"He died."

Silence.

"Courtney…" Klaus's voice trailed off. Even if he just whispered my name, I could tell that he was sad. Maybe it was because he was wasting his time by hearing my sob story or maybe he didn't like seeing me in pain. Whatever the reason, in that one word, I could tell what Klaus was feeling. That was the kind of connection I had with Ryan. I could just tell how he felt when he walked into a room. Even when Ryan didn't look or talk to me, I could just tell the feelings he had running through his body. The same thing I could do with Klaus.

"Don't say anything," I warned slowly. "I've heard it all." I decided that since I was here with Klaus, there was no point in wasting it with the whole sadness thing. "What about family, Klaus? You have—" I corrected myself, "—_had, _people who loved you and then you threw it away. Just because you wanted to be a hybrid when you had a perfectly good family right there. Why don't you see the good things when they are right in front of you?"

"Well, maybe I did throw the bond I had with my family away," Klaus admitted. "But at least I'm graced with the company of a good thing right in front of me." Klaus looked at me with loving eyes, and I couldn't help but give in to his green orbs. I stared back at him the way I stared at him when I woke up next to him in bed; with adoring looks. Sadly, Klaus ending our bonding moment with his next words. "Seriously, love, now it's just getting sad. Get over me. Because I know I'm over you."

This brought me down immensely because I now figured out the truth. I was in love with Klaus and Stefan was just a distraction. And unfortunately, Klaus didn't seem to reciprocate those feelings. I was royally fucked over by love. And Klaus was all dandy about the whole thing while I was still thinking about his kisses in the mornings. For some reason, I found his sadistic ways lovable. I found his sick mind attractive. Now here I am still in love with him even after he's insulted me and told me to get over him multiple times. Not to mention he lied to me, giant lie, and is out to kill my sister. Masochist: I was literally the definition.

Klaus slapped his hands together, once again breaking me out of my thoughts. "Well, I have to go. But I'll be back. Don't get too depressed while I'm gone. Oh, and Courtney, you're not going anywhere. You can't leave until I say you can leave," Klaus compelled me. _Thank you, vervain._ Klaus left without anything else to say to either of us. I waited until I heard him leave the whole building to talk to Katherine. But she beat me to the talking.

"What was that?" she blurted out, standing up angrily.

"What?" I asked, trying to play dumb.

"You know what I fucking mean," Katherine snapped. "The quick moving, the compulsion, and most of all, the part about killing your sister!"

I sighed. "Alright. Let's talk about the compulsion. But you have to sit down before I answer anything," I ordered softly. Katherine still looked impatient and angry, but she sat down the same place where she got up. "So I'm a witch, as you know. And I created a spell with the help of dead Bree's grimoire. Anyway, I created a spell, which was actually much easier than I thought, and I started using it. I just used it on Klaus, an Original, therefore proving that it really does work. Now the moving like a vampire; I don't know what the fuck that was. I was just so angry and confused, with my own feelings, I just had to compel Klaus before he said anything to anyone. I've noticed that I've been able to do things as a witch that I was able to do as a vampire. You heard anything like that?"

Katherine took a second to take it all in. I couldn't blame her honestly, so I waited patiently for her answer. After looking from the ceiling to the floor a few times, Katherine finally gave me the answer of, "No. But then again, I haven't heard of a few things. So I'm thinking that it's a part of your whole '_Assassin' _thing. So I think that might not be so weird…for you, at least."

I nodded at her answer. "And the whole 'killing Elena thing?' I think it's a part of the whole '_Assassin' _thing too. I've started to have these feelings about Elena that I've never had before. I think since I'm supposed to _assassinate _the doppelganger that I'll start to hate her. If I had grown up with you, I think I would have started to hate you too. But since you aren't the current doppelganger, I'm not having the urge to end your life, or despise everything you do. Don't get me wrong, there's still some love for her in there, but most of it is hate."

Katherine took another minute to take it.

"I guess we better keep this information to ourselves, right?" Katherine guessed, and I nodded.

Silence.

"You aren't going to screw me over, right?" I asked, apparently totally innocently because Katherine's face changed soft. She scooted a little closer to me, and held my hands in hers. I wasn't expecting the whole 'mother-daughter' thing to actually happen, but it was. And I can't say I wasn't totally happy with it.

"_Raina_, even though you weren't born, I still have these feelings as a mother. And I sometimes have these motherly instincts to protect you and not hurt you. And if you want me to keep this a secret, I will. I've screwed over many people, I admit that. But you, Courtney? I don't think I will."

Katherine's heartfelt answer left me speechless. Maybe my mother wasn't such a bitch after all. Maybe she really did have a heart, but she just acted like a bitch so she wouldn't get it broken. She did love her family, and then Klaus slaughtered them. So maybe she was just protecting herself from the pain of losing someone again. It was a possibility that she was just lying to me so I could get on her side again, but even if she was, I didn't want to believe that. Katherine and I were actually having some kind of relationship that didn't involve helping her or talking about her, so I was glad no matter what the reason was behind her reply.

"Thank you."

She smiled at me and gave me a hug. And at that moment, I was truly happy with my _real _mother.

* * *

><p>Katherine and I suddenly heard someone fiddling with the lock. I got ready to face Klaus again, but that wasn't who was at the door. Ric was leaning on the door's frame when we actually saw his face. And he was surprised to see me there, even though he probably already knew.<p>

"Courtney…" he breathed.

Katherine didn't let him finish. "You just got released and now you're dumb enough to come back?"

"Someone had to invite him in," Ric retorted. "Damon," he called, and Damon appeared. Damon didn't look as surprised as Ric did; he looked happy. I was kind of surprised myself that Damon would look happy to see me, even though we were friends with benefits. There was just something about our relationship that stopped us from having _that _kind of relationship.

"He said you were here, I just didn't believe him," Damon said when he looked at me. I let out a small chuckle.

"Damon, would you like to come in?" Ric asked, knowing what he was doing. Damon nodded and walked in closer to Katherine and me.

"How was it? Staying with the bitch?" Damon questioned, smirking at Katherine. She rolled her eyes and scoffed while crossing her arms. Total teenage girl move right there.

"It actually wasn't that bad," I admitted, causing Damon and Ric to raise their eyebrows. "We didn't talk much," I added, making a lie.

I wasn't sure what was happening, but suddenly Katherine had Damon up against a wall, yelling, "Are you trying to get me killed?"

Just as fast, Damon had Katherine by her neck on the opposite wall. "I gave you some vervain." _That question is now answered. _"Now I'm here to collect." He called to Ric, "I've got it from here."

"Are you sure?" Ric said back, looking doubtful, yet annoyed.

"Yes," Damon replied, still staring at Katherine. "Only one of us needs to get blamed. Go back to Elena and make sure she doesn't off herself to Klaus yet. I'll get what we need."

Ric took Damon's word for it, and left. I took the incentive to close the door behind him. Now it was only Damon, Katherine and me, able to talk about whatever we needed to talk about. Hopefully no ears were listening to us.

"Get blamed for what?" I questioned, walking closer to the two.

"I need to know where Klaus is keeping his werewolf," Damon indirectly answered. I had a feeling Damon was going to fuck with Klaus's plan which wasn't a good idea. But I decided I would stay quiet and let the grownups (160-400 years old grownups) talk for the minute. Maybe listen in and get some juicy 'deets.'

"Why? What are you going to do?" Katherine inquired.

"Dead werewolf means no ritual," Damon clarified, and I already knew some shit was going to happen with them.

"Nope," Katherine denied, "I won't let you ruin _me and Courtney. _If you interfere, Klaus will kill you and everyone you've ever met. You are not ruining this, Damon. I still may have a way to live."

"You should be happy," Damon argued as Katherine walked away from him. "You'll get to live another month of your pathetic life."

"Problem with that." This really turned my head. "I'm not the one Klaus is planning on sacrificing." _Say what now? Katherine? Not being sacrificed? What bullshit…_

"Huh?"

"Nope, not me. Little Caroline Forbes and Tyler Lockwood are the unlucky ones. I'm in the clear," Katherine answered.

_Fucking hell no! I'm not letting Klaus kill all three of my friends just to feed his silly little wish. That man is going to get an earful when he gets back because there is no way in hell Caroline or Tyler are getting sacrificed. He'll have to find a new werewolf (maybe that bitch Jules) and a new vampire (he can just make one) and a new doppelganger for his little creepy sacrifice. Nope, no dead best friends were going to happen on my watch._

"Where did he hear that idea?" Damon demanded, kind of assuming Katherine was the one who ratted them out. Honestly, it was perfectly clear that Katherine was the one to fuck them over. _Little bitch…_

"Hey, I'm just trying to save my life here," she defended. "Long enough for me to get out."

Damon exhaled very angrily. "What if I told you that Elena had vampire blood in her system?"

_Wait, what? That bitch somehow found a way to live? Fuck no. I'mma end her life, then I'mma end her vampire life. That little bitch ain't going to survive long enough to see the ritual beginning._

_Shut the fuck up, Courtney. You're not killing Elena…twice._

_Hell yeah, I am._

_That's the Assassin part of you talking._

_Well then that Assassin part be speaking the truth. I'm doing it. You ain't stopping me._

_I am you._

_Then fuck you._

_You basically just said 'fuck you' to yourself. So what you're saying is 'fuck me.'_

_You and your smart shit._

"What did you do, Damon?" I demanded with a harsh, scary tone. Damon turned to me and put his hands up.

"Why do you assume it's me?"

"Because you always fuck something up."

Damon looked at me for a long minute, shook his head, and then turned to Katherine. While I was fuming, Damon was saying to Katherine, "Imagine how hard it's going to be to compete for Stefan's love while Elena's still here. That'll take, I don't know, forever." They stared each other down until Katherine cracked and told him where they were.

"The tomb. He's got them in the tomb."

"Thank you."

Damon walked to the door without saying anything to me. Without mentioning that he put vampire blood in my sister's system when he knew that she despised the thought of becoming a vampire. He knew that if she was a vampire, she'd lose her shit. She probably already did, and any chances of her ever forgiving him, even after he fucked up last night, were crumpled up, thrown away, then shot by a gun.

"Damon, you better not kill Tyler or Caroline, or Klaus is not the one you'll have to worry about," I warned him at the door. Damon turned around with an amused look on his face, but I was dead serious. I added, "I will make you pay in so many ways, you'll wish you would have killed yourself first."

This made Damon look a little more careful, but I could tell that he still wasn't taking the whole thing to heart. "Are you coming with me?"

"Klaus thinks he compelled me to stay here," I replied. "So I'm not going anywhere." Damon nodded like he understood my situation. He was about to close the door before I called out, "Oh, and Damon?" He turned back to look at me. "Fuck you."

He smiled. "Name the bed and time."

I shook my head at him (without a smile or any trace of amusement) and closed the door right on his laughing smirk. "Fuck that guy," I mumbled again.

"It's okay to admit it," Katherine said to me. "I did too at one point."

"Alright, knowing that fucked the same guy I did is very disturbing. You are my mother after all."

* * *

><p><strong>Hello people! I know that I've updated really quickly with a short update, but whatever, right? Anyway, from the one review I've decided that I will end this book at the end of season 2, but I'll be starting the next book in the series pretty soon. So don't fret children. And I was thinking of having a different book while I'm in the break of this series. What do you guys think? And what should the next book title in The Story of Us series be called? I have a thought, but I'm not sure it's good.<strong>

**katherinemikaelson- When I saw your username, I thought I commented on my own story. It took me a second to realize that it wasn't me. And I'm not going to reveal anything, but they do have some time together. And now that I think about it, yes, they are both kind of hybrids. Courtney is some kind of vampire/witch hybrid created by witches themselves to kill the doppelganger and Klaus is a vampire/werewolf hybrid. They do fit perfectly, don't they?**

**Guest- Still not revealing anything, but I'll just say, in the next chapter, some shit goes down. Emotional shit to be honest, and you'll be kind of surprised. But I'm not going to say anything else about that.**

**So I'm glad that this book as made some friends and readers, and I thank you all! Thank you for your support, your comments, but most of all, thank you for reading. This was just a stupid idea I had when I realized that we needed a girl character who wasn't weak, but at the same time she wasn't as strong as everyone thinks she is. So thanks for reading. You guys are the best.**

**katherineismikaelson**


	27. Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

The feeling was annoying. It was painful, aggravating, and strong. I couldn't get over my love for Klaus. Even when he walked in the apartment with an irritated look on his face. When I saw him, my loving feeling just washed over me like a rogue wave. His eyes, his mouth, his posture; they all played a part in my love for Klaus. And even when I thought I could get over him, I just couldn't. I was still feeling like I should be the one by his side, trying to fight to get him what he wanted. There was almost no way of getting over it. Klaus had to do something that I would really loathe to make me get over him.

So when Klaus walked in looking like he could kill someone, I still didn't hate him for what he was doing.

"What have you done?" Klaus demanded, staring right at Katherine. She only had a cup of coffee in her hand when she turned around to face him. I was standing by the book case looking through Ric's collection when Klaus came back. Katherine looked totally innocent, since all she _really _was doing was having coffee.

"Making coffee," Katherine answered truthfully. "Do want some?"

Klaus wasn't buying any of it. He grabbed her by the neck and repeated, "What have you been doing?"

Katherine replied back with the same answer. "Making coffee." Apparently he bought it because he let her go. Probably because he still thought that she could be compelled, even though she was on vervain, via Damon.

"Wait," Klaus said smiling. _I spoke too soon. _"Take off your bracelet." At first I was confused what he was talking about: Katherine didn't have a vervain bracelet. It would burn her. But then I realized that it was her daylight bracelet. "And then I want you to walk over to the window."

"But I'll burn," Katherine argued, but Klaus shook his head.

"You don't have a choice."

I knew this was a test. He wanted to know if she was actually on vervain. Reluctantly Katherine walked over to the window, where the sunlight was pouring out. Klaus smiled as he watched her slowly walk over, took a sip of the coffee Katherine poured, and watched. Katherine took one more step, then stopped because she was burning. I could hear the sizzling of her burning skin. I had to admit, maybe being a vampire wasn't all that great. I took a step forward to help her but Klaus snapped his head over to me and compelled, "Don't move."

Trying to keep up the act that I was able to be compelled, I stopped mid-step and didn't try to help Katherine. I hoped that Katherine understood why I couldn't do anything. After standing in the sunlight for about thirty seconds, Klaus finally let her step out. "That's enough." After those words, Katherine used her vampire speed to go into a corner (without sunlight) to heal up.

"I guess I was wrong," Klaus mumbled to himself. "Alright then. I need you to do something for me. I need you to call Auntie."

"Fuck no!" I yelled at Klaus, about to take a step forward, but then I remembered that I was compelled. "You are not bringing Jenna into this."

"You really can't stop me, Courtney. So you have no say in the matter," Klaus retorted now looking annoyed.

I whimpered, "I love her. She's my aunt. You're already taking my sister, and my best friends. Why her too?" Klaus walked up to me, wrapped one arm around my waist and the other one was on my cheek. He stared at me with adoring eyes. _He couldn't have moved on… No. He's looking at me the same way he did before._

"I never wanted to hurt you, Courtney," Klaus told me softly. With his soft voice, and his British accent, I melted. I wanted to say something, stand up to him, cuss at him, but none of those words would come out. All I heard myself say was, "You already did."

Klaus shook his head ever so slightly before walking away from me, and handing Katherine a phone. He demanded, "Call her."

"Katherine, don't!" I tried to persuade, but Katherine took the phone and looked through it for her number. "Katherine, please!"

"Courtney," she said, putting the phone up to her ear. "I have no choice." I knew that she was right, and the only hope I had left was Damon. Hopefully he could succeed in stopping the ritual so Jenna didn't have to become a vampire, and die. Jenna couldn't die. _Next to Jeremy, she's the only family I have left. I mean, John's been MIA most of the time, and Katherine, let's admit it, she's going to ditch after she escapes Klaus. She's going to ditch me. And Elena is probably going to die, either by Klaus or my hand because of my stupid Assassin side. Stefan and I aren't going to make it because he's just my back up, and Damon's going to be off the rails because Elena's dead. Jeremy's going to back in his stoner phase, which is going to kill him at an early age. And Jenna's the only person who will actually see that losing Elena doesn't mean we all have to mad. But if Klaus let's this happen, she'll be dead. I don't want Caroline to get sacrificed and at the same time I don't want my aunt to get sacrificed._

"Jenna," Katherine breathed into the phone, sounding like Elena. "I need your help. Please help me…" I stopped listening to her lies after that. I just couldn't force myself to listen to Jenna's death. Even if she wasn't sacrificed, she'd still be a vampire. Katherine hung up soon after Jenna picked up. Klaus had a proud smile on while Katherine looked annoyed. I was the only one who was distraught.

I barked at Klaus, "You bitch."

He looked back at me, and shrugged.

"Now that that's done, I have to go pick up our doppelganger," Klaus informed us. "I'll be back."

When he walked past me, I threw my hand out to catch his arm and stop him. "Please Klaus, don't do this. Undagger your family and just be happy."

"I'll be happy when I have my doppelganger," Klaus mumbled back. He pulled his arm out of my grasp easily, and walked out the door. I turned to Katherine to give her a shameful look.

"What? Courtney, I couldn't do anything." Katherine tried to reason with me, but I just put my hand up to silence her. I didn't want to hear any of her shit. I just wanted to sit alone, and think about how much my life was falling apart. And just think, a few months ago I was singing songs in my bedroom.

* * *

><p>Klaus came back without Elena by his side. He had a phone in his hand playing something. I didn't bother saying anything to him, but I still was very angry. If I did say anything, I was afraid I'd start cussing him out. Then I wouldn't be able to stop. And yet through all the shit he was putting me through, my heart still found a way to skip a beat when I saw him. <em>Fuck feelings…<em>

"Where is she?" Katherine asked.

"I left her with Greta," Klaus replied. He started hooking up the phone to a computer. _Still don't care…_

Before Katherine could get anything else in, the door flew open and someone was in the apartment. It wasn't until he stopped when I saw Damon standing behind Klaus. "I didn't realize you were invited in."

"Now you'll have to postpone it," Damon said vaguely. I cursed him silently for not getting Elena instead of Caroline and Tyler. Believe me, I loved them too, but they were replaceable. Like 'Jenna' replaceable. Elena was not.

"What are you talking about?" By now Klaus was out of the chair and he was facing Damon.

"You can't do the ritual without a vampire and a werewolf," Damon replied, causing Klaus's face to change angry. "Yup, it was all me. Freed your vampire and werewolf. I even killed your witch. And I don't even care if you kill me for it."

Klaus stared at Damon for a long time. It was a very intense stare. One that even made me shiver, and I wasn't even the one Klaus was staring at. "Katerina, Courtney, will you give us a moment?"

That was our queue to step into another room. I followed Katherine down the hall to a bedroom where we closed the door, and locked it. I wasn't bothering to listen to the interesting conversation they were going to have because I knew that if I did, I'd get angry and start cussing. Curse words were my 'go-to' when it came to situations like that. Katherine on the other hand was all up against the door, quiet as fuck, listening to what they had to say to each other.

A few minutes passed by when I heard a snap and something heavy fall to the floor. I burst out of the room, not caring that I was supposedly compelled to find Damon on the floor and Klaus with a smirk.

"What the fuck did you do?" I demanded, crouching down to aid Damon. Klaus just kept a smile on his face. "You are not using him as the vampire."

"He's as good as dead," Klaus mumbled quietly. Almost so quiet, I had to strain my ears to listen to what he had to say. _Good as dead?_ Damon looked perfectly fine to me. Perfectly usable because (a) He was a vampire, and (b) He's been knocked out so Klaus can just take him. I didn't see the problem in this equation.

"I'm off to the ritual," Klaus told me. Forgetting Damon, I got up to talk to Klaus again.

"Klaus, stop this," I whispered while staring into his eyes. "We can just leave. You're an Original. Someone who makes other vampires shit their pants when even thought about you. And you have family that loves you, even though you've probably daggered them so many times. Not to mention me…" His face changed when I mentioned myself. I knew that I was getting somewhere when I started to bring up our relationship. "Sure, we only spent a short time together, but Klaus, you really mean something to me. I think I might be in love with you. And while you might not be in love with me, I still want you to think about just ditching all of this and just come with me. We can get out, I can meet your family, and all of this can be okay. While you'll still be feared, everyone in Mystic Falls won't hate you. Just please, leave this because you have many people who love you just the way you are."

Klaus's hands found their way to cup my face. He slowly leaned down to kiss me. And it was one hell of a kiss. Though it wasn't hot, it wasn't heavy. It was just a sweet, fucking awesome kiss. The ones that would make me fall deeper in love with him. The ones that Ryan and I shared at times. In those short seconds, I realized that Klaus and Ryan weren't all that different. They both made me feel the same way, and though they were different in some ways, in most ways they were the similar. And I was just so in love with him.

When Klaus pulled away from my lips, I was disappointed. But I was even more disappointed with his next sentence: "Love me even after I kill your sister."

Then the motherfucker left me there, with multiple feelings running through my head. I was angry. In love. Annoyed. Adoring him. So fucking sick of his ways. So happy that he kissed me again. _Bitch, has me all tongue-tied._

"That was almost painful to watch," Katherine said, breaking me out of my thoughts of Klaus. "I mean, you got straight up told. He's not going to stop. Klaus will get what he wants. The thing that surprises me is that he seemed like he genuinely cared about you. Like he loved you. I was convinced he couldn't love anyone but himself."

_Katherine, you really are a bitch. Can't believe she just said that…_

I retorted bitchily, "Really? I feel the same way about you."

I walked back to Damon who was still unconscious on the floor. I slapped his face around a couple of times, but he still didn't move.

"Courtney, I'm sorry. I'm just speaking the truth," Katherine replied sounding like SHE was the one who was annoyed.

"And so am I, Katherine." I stood up to face her and say what had been on my mind for a while. I had to grow some balls and be truthful. "Honestly, you are a bitch. A hated, fucking stupid one at that. You had your whole life to change that status, but you haven't made a single effort to try and show me that I had no reason to not like you. But all you've done is fuck my friends over, tell me how much you love Stefan, and use me in your little plans. Guess fucking what? I'm done. I'm done trying to play good daughter for someone who doesn't deserve it. What about Nadia, huh? Have you ever even tried to find her? Not even find her, but to know where she is? Probably not because you a selfish whore who only cares about herself. Oh, sorry, I forgot to mention your infatuation with Stefan. God, I'm so glad you KILLED me before I was born because I would have hated to be abandoned just like my sister. So Katherine, please stop lying to me and saying that you'll actually care when I know you're not. Because you aren't that kind of person. You'll just screw people over when they trust you the most. And I'm not getting hurt. I can't believe I thought that being nice to you and helping you would make you a better person. Because honestly, you're just the same.

"So do me a favor, and just leave me the fuck alone."

Katherine looked hurt by my whole rant, but for the first time, I didn't care. I didn't care that Katherine was hurt because I was hurt too. By Stefan, for kissing me, then Elena, oh and only giving a shit about Elena; by Damon, who literally only gave a shit about Elena; by Klaus, for literally only giving a shit about himself and Elena; by Bonnie and Caroline who only gave a shit about Elena; by Elijah, for only thinking about killing his brother, and only giving a shit about Elena, and by Katherine, the fucking devil herself. Hurt by Katherine for only giving a shit about her survival. _Congratulation, you are the only person who doesn't give a shit about Elena, Katherine. Way to go. You rose above everyone else, and made me hate you for a different reason._

Oh, and Tyler. For leaving me when the shit got crazy. I didn't leave when his life sucked; well, I kind of did, but… Never-fucking-mind.

Katherine didn't even try to fix anything because she knew that she already fucked up. I mean, she could have saved the whole rant thing for another person if she just didn't say any of her snarky comments about Klaus ditching me. Seriously, that's what pushed me over the edge. Not anything else; only that comment.

"I'll get a blood bag," Katherine informed me quietly, going to the fridge. I didn't say anything back to her, I just kept trying to wake Damon up. I slapped his face; beat on his chest, I even spit on him at one point, but nothing worked. Katherine handed me the blood bag so I could give it to Damon. It was barely full, just a little blood in the corners, but it'd have to do if I wanted to wake up Damon before the ritual started.

"Damon, wake up." I fed him a little blood from the bag. At first he didn't swallow anything, but then he started to react. Yet his eyes still weren't open. "Damon, now! You need to get up!" After yelling at and feeding Damon, he finally started to show some signs of waking up. I stopped feeding him the blood long enough for him to get up and comprehend what was happening.

"Damon, I had to. Klaus 'compelled' me," Katherine said vaguely. Damon had a confused look on his face, but I knew exactly what Katherine was talking about.

"What?"

"I called Jenna. I had to lure her in. Klaus has his backup vampire."

Damon took a second before shaking his head violently. "No, no, no. I said I would handle it. Jenna can't be the vampire. Elena will hate me for not being able to save her. Shit, this is bad. Why didn't he use me? I was right there… Why didn't he use me?"

"He couldn't," I piped up, "he said you were as good as dead."

"What does that even mean?" Damon asked sounding frustrated.

"'What does it mean?'" Katherine repeated, looking annoyed. She shot her hand out, and held up Damon's arm. Mid-arm, there were two puncture holes, and a nasty looking bruise. I could see the veins pulsating, but they weren't green. They were bright red. "What is this, Damon."

"I forgot about that little, tiny detail. It's a werewolf bite," Damon answered. _He got fucking bit? Dumbasses, get your dumbasses here! One is bit by a werewolf and the other is a universal bitch who somehow has no one on her side. They're as dumb as they come. Get your dumbasses here!_

"And what do werewolf bites do, Damon?"

"They kill you."

"'As good as dead.'"

Damon stared at his bite for a minute while I tried to find a way to fix it. _Maybe cutting his arm off? That seemed to work in _The Walking Dead_. You know, what isn't attached can't hurt you, right? Isn't that what they say? Or is it 'what you don't know can't hurt you?'_ Whatever the saying was, I had a feeling that it wouldn't work.

"I have to get to the ritual," Damon concluded, walking towards the door.

"I'm coming with you," I claimed, following him quickly.

Damon spun around, and said, "No, you're not."

I scoffed. "Please, Damon. You don't know where the ritual's going to be. I do. So shut up, and let me lead the way."

"What? No goodbye?" Katherine called out to Damon. "You're about to die, and I don't get a goodbye? We've known each other for, I don't know, 145 years, and I don't get any closure?"

"You don't deserve a goodbye," Damon retorted.

"Why?"

This made Damon turn around so he could face her. "Maybe because when Klaus dies, you get off without a scratch, and Courtney's aunt dies. How is it that you're the only one that wins in this situation?"

"I didn't let love get in the way."

"And that's exactly why you're alone," I added.

Damon concluded for me, "Have fun spending an eternity alone, Katherine." Damon followed me back to the door, and just when we're about to walk out, Katherine asks another question.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to offer myself up as a vampire," Damon said as I replied, "I'm going to stop the ritual."

"Damon, he's not going to take you. Your blood is impure. Filled with werewolf venom. While that can't hurt him, it won't work if he drains you of your blood. You were already dead from the start. And Courtney, you can't stop it. Klaus has a witch that can stop you. He's waited a thousand years to break this; you're not fucking it up for him." Katherine was right, as much as I hated to admit it. "Plus, if you mess it up, Klaus won't love you anymore," Katherine added, totally oblivious to the fact that Damon doesn't know anything about my relationship with Klaus. I hoped that Damon didn't catch any of that, but he did.

"Won't love you anymore?" Damon questioned, turning to me. Katherine's looked genuinely surprised, and she looked like she was cursing silently. I guess maybe she didn't mean to drop that bomb. "What is she talking about?"

I gave him a smile, but he didn't return it. "We should get going. We're wasting moonlight." I tried to walk farther, but Damon stopped me with his firm grip on my arm. I tried a few times to pull it out of his rock hard grip, but nothing worked, so I sighed. "Damon, promise you won't get mad."

"I'm not doing shit. Just tell me," he demanded.

"Fine. I… Klaus and I were…lovers," I confessed, causing Damon to look shocked. "When I was with Katherine, she left me back in Pennsylvania to do some research, and I ran into Klaus. At first he thought I was Elena, but then I told him who I was. Actually, all he said was 'Which twin are you?' I told him, and then we had lunch together. That's when I uncovered the side of Klaus that he so desperately tried to hide from everyone else. He's funny, caring, sweet, intelligent, and really gifted when it comes to art. Damon, Klaus was someone who (a) Got me, and (b) Wasn't me. Not to mention, somehow, in the short-ass time we had together, he found a way to make me fall in love with him. But then I found out that he was still hunting down Elena for the doppelganger sacrifice ritual thing, and I left him. And that's when I came back. I never told him that Elena lives in Mystic Falls. He figured that out himself. But I regret ever spending time with him because I'm in love. With Klaus. The man who's out to kill my sister, my best friend's trainer and my aunt."

Silence.

Until Damon cussed at me. "Listen up, whore. You _are _telling everyone about your little relationship with Klaus, and then we'll see if Stefan still wants to be with you." _Katherine is now probably angry, now that she knows Stefan and I are more than just friends. We're kind of in a relationship…behind Elena's back._ "Then we'll see if Elena will still count you as her sister. But in the meantime, I'm going to hate you for not telling us. You of all people should know how much damage lies can do."

Damon then let go of my arm, and stormed out of the apartment. _Shit, guess that cat's out of the bag. _I turned back to look at Katherine, who looked like she could rip someone's head off. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you that Stefan and I are kind of…dating."

"Get the fuck out," Katherine grit, clutching her fists by her side. "Before I do something all of us will regret."

I didn't need to be told twice. I flashed a nervous smile, closed the door, and sped up to Damon who was angrily stomping down the stairs. It wasn't _that _late, but I knew some neighbors wouldn't be happy about the noise. Quietly, I kept up at Damon's side until we got out of the building.

"So where is it?"

"Take my hand," I told Damon, putting my hand. His expression basically said, _What-the-fuck-are-you-doing?-You-just-told-me-that-you-had-a-relationship-with-a-man-that-wants-to-kill-your-sister-and-now-you-want-to-hold-my-hand? _"I can do this thing where I can teleport anywhere I think of. If I can do it, I'm guessing I can bring someone with me. So take my hand and I can get us there."

Damon's next expression read _Seems legit, _and he took my hand. I smiled at him (again, he didn't smile back). But before I could think of anything, Damon pulled his hand away from me quickly. I looked at him confused, and with a look of urgency also written on my features. Damon shook his head.

"I can't," he told me, taking a step back. "There's no point. I'm probably going to die by the time that we get this all figured out. No, I just can't."

I stared at him with wide eyes. "Let's not forget, Elena's going to die, and become a vampire. She'll hate you."

"And I'll be dead."

"So that's it, huh? You're just going to give up."

"Have you heard of a cure for a werewolf bite?"

"No, but we'll find another way. As mad as Elena is at you, she won't let you die. She won't let it happen, Stefan won't let it happen and _I _won't let it happen. Damon, you're my best friend. I'm going to just go about this without you. I'm not going to. I refuse to."

"Well, you're just going to have to. Because I'm dying! And there's nothing you can do about it!"

"Maybe I could ask the witches?" I offered, finally coming up with an idea.

"No, they hate me. They'll never do anything for me," Damon argued. "Plus, you were created from dark magic. Even if they agreed to help me, they wouldn't say anything to you." What he was saying was true, but that still didn't stop me from denying the fact that Damon, my best friend, was dying. He couldn't just die on me, could he? We only knew each other for almost two years, but that didn't mean I grew to like him. Him and his dirty, dumbass ways. No, I refused to just let him go quietly.

"Damon, you go home. You go sit on your fatass, give up, drink some wine, and I'll stop the sacrifice, save my sister, and think of a way to save you. Don't worry, I'm going to do all the work."

I left before he could say anything. I left to go to the sacrifice. But it was in the middle of the woods. I wasn't where Elena was. I could obviously see fire up ahead, but I couldn't see anything else. All there was around me was trees, darkness and even more darkness. The fire up ahead was my only source of light, except the moonlight, but that wasn't helping much. I had to find my way to the whole sacrifice before I could stop it. But seeing the light ahead made me think that I wasn't that far away.

I slowly started to make my way through the trees, the plants, and the sticks that kept getting in my way, both on the ground and on the trees. I stumbled, fell, sighed, and cursed multiple times as I walked. Basically, if my life was a reality TV show, that would be the part where I would cuss out the camera man and tell him to eat my shit. I wasn't in a very perky mood. Then it'd air, everyone would see me, and the next news story would be called _"Courtney Gilbert: On Her Period in New Episode." _Then I'd become the most famous and hated person in the world. Jealous girls (jealous of my good looks, and my _killer _humor) would spread rumors that I kicked puppies. At that moment, I had my reality TV show life all planned out. Sadly, I still wasn't any closer to stopping the ritual because while stumbling, I still didn't find a plan. I guess I could just go up to Klaus, kill one of his sacrifices, and then he'd be mad. Or I could just kiss him until Bonnie came out of fucking nowhere, and killed his sorry ass. But of course if that happen, I'd be heartbroken, block everyone out, become homeless and become one of those angry, bitter hobos. That would just be stellar. Or I could tell Klaus how much I really loved him, exposing to Elena that I had a secret relationship with him, try to convince him that the ritual wasn't all that cool. But that would just be a 95.5/4.5 chance. (95.5% being the ritual still happens.) Ugh, my life was just so confusing. I needed to become an air hostess so I could get the hell out of here. Seriously, my life was turning into a horror movie. Except it would make a shitload more money at the box office than any other horror movie. I'd become a movie star, people would be exposed to vampires, then I'd get torched down in my Malibu home. My life was shit either way.

I started seeing the light get brighter, and at that moment, I could almost cry tears of joy. _Fucking finally! Damn, I'm sweating like I just ran a fucking marathon. Seriously, I think my whole transportation thing was an accident this time._

I walked out of the trees, only to find Jenna and Elena in two fire circles, Klaus and Stefan standing in front of them (Klaus with a stake), and someone mumbling over a tall rock. I hated to say it, but the whole sacrifice thing seemed like shit. Seriously, I expected it to be a little classier.

I stepped on a stick (on purpose) to make my presence known. Everyone's heads flicked over to me. I smiled at them.

"Klaus, I know you've been on this earth forever, and you know how big it is, but seriously, can't you help a girl out?" I questioned, walking closer to everyone. "You couldn't have made this so far in the woods that I had to walk…like sixteen miles just to see the fire. Then I had to walk an extra infinity miles to actually get here. Seriously, I'm sweating like I just came out of water."

"Courtney, what are you doing here?"

"What is this shit?" I inquired, pointing to my sister and aunt. "Fucking crop circles? Hell nah. If you're going to do a ritual, do it right. Hang them up on a cross or something. Just something a bit classier than fucking fire crop circles."

"Courtney," Elena breathed, smiling at me. "At least I know you can keep your humor." I winked at her.

"Klaus, I'll make you a deal. How about you come back when you're not such a selfish bastard, and then we'll talk about you stupid sacrifice. How about it?"

Klaus looked annoyed. "Courtney, my good opinion of you is slowly withering away."

"Klaus, how about you take your opinion of me, write it down," I began, walking even closer to him, "and then you can shove it up your ass. How do you not expect me to interfere. She's my sister. Elena's a sister I love very much. Jenna is an aunt that I love very much. And Stefan is a…friend that I care about very much." Stefan's expression turned depressed. It was probably because I referred to him as a _friend. _I didn't know what else to say. I thought it was a little too late to tell Elena that Stefan and I were fucking behind her back. Would you really tell your sister that you and her boyfriend were screwing while she was worrying about everyone's lives right before she dies and becomes a vampire? I didn't think so.

"Courtney, let's talk." Klaus grabbed my arm roughly and pulled me away. "What are you doing?"

I decided to take another route. I put my hand on Klaus's cheek, stared into his eyes, and said, "Klaus, remember when we went to the carnival. We had so much fun, and I realized that you're not the total motherfucker Katherine said you were. I discovered that there's a very great and sweet side to you, and I'll love you even if you are just a vampire. Un-dagger your family. They'll be mad, but they'll start to understand. You can live in peace with them, be happy with them, and be happy with me. She's my sister, and I love her, but I also love you. Don't do something that would make me hate you forever."

Klaus looked down at me and smiled. "You really are something else, aren't you? Courtney, as much as I want to do what you say, I have to do this too. I have to prove to myself that I'm not just the child with a different father than his siblings. I have to prove not only to myself, but to my father that I can be something great. I can be something powerful."

"Klaus, you're father bullied you all those years, but it doesn't mean that you can't ignore it," I whispered, trying to reason with him. I didn't bother looking over to Stefan because I already knew he was confused as fuck with our conversation. And Jenna and Elena were probably just as confused when they saw me put my hand on his face lovingly. If I was in their positions, I would be surprised and confused too. Not to mention mad. "Please, come above his shit and prove to _me _that you're a good person."

Klaus was silent for a while, but then he kissed me. It was a sweet, loving kiss. The same kiss we shared in Ric's apartment. It was cute, fulfilling and just simply amazing. It felt like Klaus was putting me on top of the world. It also felt like an _I'm-sorry-for-doing-this _kind of kiss. He was going to do something I'd hate. And that was to continue on with the ritual. When we finally broke apart, my lips were tingling, and my heart was pounding. A small smile played on my lips in the few seconds we stared at each other after the kiss.

Then he whispered the words I hated the most. "I'm sorry."

He left me quickly, and before I could get to him, there was a circle of fire surrounding me.

_MOTHERFUCKING WITCHES!_

"So now you put me in a fire crop circle because I'm saying things you don't like?!" I screamed at him. "You bitch! You certified motherfucker! Don't do this! Please, don't!" Klaus ignored my screams and pleads and turned to Elena.

"Choose, Stefan or Jenna," he demanded, even more angry. "Darling, you better speed it up or I'll have to choose for you."

Elena kept mumbling "No" over and over again.

"Actually, there is no choice," Klaus said. Before I even knew what was happening, Klaus was stabbing Stefan in the back with a stake. Klaus broke off the end of the stake so the other half could just be lodged in Stefan's back.

"KLAUS!" I screamed more urgently. "STEFAN, NO! KLAUS, WHY?"

"I have other plans for your boyfriend." The tears started streaming down my face like a river does a waterfall. "I want him alive. But for now…" Klaus snapped Stefan's neck. _So not only does he sacrifice my sister and my aunt (after begging and pleading him not to), Klaus also decides he wants to be even more of a dick, and snap Stefan's neck. And did I mention that Stefan has a stake in his back?_

"Greta, whenever you're ready," Klaus called to the woman who was standing over the oversized rock. She started mumbling again, and I couldn't help myself but mumble along with her. I wasn't sure what was taking over me. _The dark magic, _my mind called to me. _It's taking over you. _It made sense that I was mumbling along to a dark magic spell, but it didn't make sense that I couldn't force myself to stop.

So all while Jenna started freaking out because Klaus was walking closer to her, I was mumbling along to the ritual spell that would kill her. Jenna suddenly attacked the witch, Greta, by latching onto her neck and drinking her blood. Greta broke the spell, but for some reason, my lips kept mumbling on with the spell. Greta looked over at me with a surprised look, and I shrugged in return. Klaus came up behind Jenna, and stabbed a stake in her back. She was thrown a few feet away, but that didn't stop Klaus from going on top of her, and stabbing her in her heart. That was the last time I'd see Jenna alive.

_…__Auntie…_

Greta joined me with the spell while Elena called out for Jenna. Elena then turned towards me, realizing what I was doing. She gave me the dirtiest look, which didn't bother me much, and turned back to Klaus. After mumbling along for quite some time, Stefan finally decided he'd stop being such a pussy and wake up. Stefan reached for the stake in his back, but it was too far up for him to reach. He groaned and cussed every time he failed to reach it.

Klaus slowly made his way over to Elena again, telling her, "It's time."

This somehow made me break out of the whole trance and stop mumbling. Greta paused for a second, looking like she was powerless, but started again as quickly as she stopped. Klaus didn't even notice.

As the fire circle around Elena disappeared, I called out, "Stop Klaus. This is your last chance. You already killed my aunt, and now you want to kill my sister. Please, just stop."

But again, Klaus ignored me. I was getting tired of being ignored by so many people. When Klaus put his hand out for Elena, she willingly got up, but she didn't take his hand. She walked right past him, right over to the tall rock Greta was 'spelling' into. She took a look at Jenna's dead body, and rolled her eyes. At least I think she rolled her eyes. Sure, I was half vampire, but I still couldn't see that tiny detail shit. Plus, my eyes were watering from the death of my aunt.

As Stefan tried to get up, Klaus and Elena shared a brief conversation. It didn't last long because after a few words, Klaus was sucking blood from Elena's neck. I wasn't sure what was coming from my mouth, but all I heard was a loud "No!" I watched as Elena was fed from Klaus, and she just straight up let him. I could see her slowly die as he kept drinking from her. Finally, when she fell to the ground, I knew that it was done. The ritual was complete. All Klaus needed to do was change on the full moon. Then he'd get what he wanted. Elena would be a vampire. Damon would be dead. Stefan would be angry at me. I wouldn't have my aunt Jenna. Jeremy would be broken. Bonnie would be angry. Caroline would be angry. Tyler would leave again. And Klaus would be the hybrid like he so desperately wanted.

And I'd be alone.

The fire went out on the big rock, and Klaus walked down the stairs. "I can feel it," he told us all, standing like an awkward child in a stiff jacket. Then I started to hear bones crack. Klaus was thrown back. _I don't think that's a part of the transition. Breaking bones, and fucking up your liver might be a part of it, but I don't think getting thrown back is._

Out of nowhere, Bonnie came, lighting up the way as she walked down. Greta tried to stop her, but she was walking in like a badass motherfucker. I was impressed really, but I was still a bit sad that my family was dead. _At least I have Jeremy and John. Then I guess I'll have a vampire sister. But no aunt…_

Damon came out of nowhere too, snapped Greta's neck and picked up Elena to carry her somewhere else. Once Greta died, the fire around me died too. I fled over to Stefan with my new vampire powers (Fucking awesome!) and sat with him. He mumbled to pull out the stake in his back. Or at least that's what I thought he mumbled. Either way, I pulled the stake out anyway. Once I did, Stefan screamed out in pain, but I couldn't blame him because that had to hurt. Then Damon came over with Elena. He set her down next to Stefan.

"Elena," he mumbled, touching her face. "Elena," Stefan repeated over and over again. I stared at my sister's dead body, and realized that I truly did hate her a bit. I was sure it was because of the whole _Assassin _thing, but I still didn't want to hate her. She was my sister of course. We grew up together, making me love her. And I didn't want myself to hate her. Even if it was because of who I was. I was made to kill her, but that didn't mean I had to hate her, did it?

"I need you to get her out of here," Stefan instructed to Damon.

"What about you two?" Damon asked confused.

Stefan spoke for me. "We're not leaving until he's dead." I nodded my head to Damon who looked over at me. He nodded back and picked up Elena. We both got up and stood next to Bonnie as she did the spell. Stefan wasn't talking to me, I knew he was mad. I tried to hold his hand, but he just jerked it away before I could intertwine our fingers. He had every right to be mad at me, and I should have expected it, but I didn't. As Damon left carrying Elena, Elijah came up behind Bonnie. He leaned over Klaus, and stuck his hand in his chest.

"In the name of our family, Niklaus…" Elijah began, but he was interrupted.

"Elijah, I didn't bury them at sea," Klaus suddenly piped up, stopping Elijah from killing him. "I hid them. And if you kill me, you'll never know where they are."

_Yes! Elijah won't kill him!_

_Dammit, Elijah won't kill him!_

"Don't listen to what he says, Elijah!" Stefan called out when he realized that Elijah was hesitating.

"I can take you to them," Klaus murmured to Elijah, who looked like he was torn. "You have my word, brother…"

"If you ditch, I'll take you both out," Bonnie warned, and I believed her. A witch with the power of 100 dead witches? Um… I'd rather not get on her bad side.

"You'll die," Elijah shot back, but Bonnie was prepared.

"I don't care."

"Bonnie, no," I said, stepping forward. Some kind of field stopped me from stepping any farther. I guessed it was from Bonnie trying to stop me from doing anything to stop her. Elijah kept looking from Klaus to us with a worried look on his face. From the moment Klaus started talking, I knew that Elijah wasn't going to kill him. I just wished that Elijah could save the talking after he pulled out Klaus's heart and made everyone happy that the asshole was dead.

But no… Elijah had to apologize, "I'm sorry" before running off with Klaus into the night. Bonnie wasn't quick enough to stop them. Both Bonnie and Stefan called out "No!" as they watched Elijah and Klaus flee.

_Well, that's that. Elijah's word officially doesn't mean shit to anyone now. He fucked up… Then again, I can't blame him. He's about to kill his _brother, _who knows where his other family is. His family that he hasn't seen in years. Wouldn't you make the same decision? Screw the strangers you just met, who killed you, and trust the brother that also killed you. But that brother just happens to be leading you to your other family. I honestly think I'd make the same decision, as bitchy as that sounds. But we do have to think about his side of things._

"Well, shit…"

I didn't know what else to say. Obviously I said the wrong thing because Stefan looked at me with a critical look. "You planned this," he accused, walking closer to me. "You wanted this to happen."

Bonnie turned around just as confused as I was.

"Stefan, what are you talking about?" I asked, backing up.

"You planned this with the both of them," Stefan explained. "You wanted the ritual to be completed. That's why you mumbled along to the spell. You helped Greta, and you helped Klaus. And now your sister and your aunt are dead for it!"

"Stefan, stop!" Bonnie yelled, running towards the both of us. Stefan somehow backed me up on a tree. Stefan stared me down with hateful, accusing eyes. I could just tell that I was in some deep shit with him. _Guess our relationship has come to an end, hasn't it Stefan? Unless we can just continue it on lies and no trust. But that won't work very long, will it…?_

He snarled, "You bitch!" Stefan threw his hands up against the tree, scaring me and damaging the tree. He was suddenly thrown back by something, freeing me from his intense stare.

"What are you talking about?" Bonnie screamed at Stefan. He got up quickly, thanks to his vampire speed, and was next to Bonnie in half a second.

"She loved him," Stefan spilled. "She kissed him at the ritual. She said how she fell in love with his 'soft' side, or whatever that means. And she didn't tell us anything about the relationship. She just slept with him, and loved him, and kissed him. All while knowing that he was after Elena. Like a little fucking liar."

Bonnie stared at Stefan with wide eyes. Then she turned to me. "Is it true?" she asked before jumping to any conclusions.

I couldn't say it wasn't true because it was. But I didn't want to say it was true because if I did, I'd fuck it my friendship with Bonnie. She'd hate me for keeping the secret. I hated me for keeping the secret. I hated me for ever staying with him and falling for him. I should have known when we had our first kiss that I needed to ditch. I couldn't fall in love with my sister's potential killer. But I did anyway. And for a long time I was shameless about the whole thing. Until now.

"Yes," I sighed. "Yes, I did have a relationship with Klaus. I am in love with him." This set Bonnie off edge. She started pacing, and mumbling and biting her lip, while Stefan just stared at me. What a hateful stare it was. I added to save my ass, "But I didn't give up Elena's location. I love her too much to do that. He found her all on his own."

Bonnie still shook her head with a disapproving look. "But you lied to us. You lied to all of us."

I didn't say anything because I fell to the ground. I could hear footsteps run towards me, but my eyes were closed before I could see anyone.

I died.

* * *

><p>I woke up in <em>my <em>bed; like my Gilbert house bed. Everyone was staring at me like I was either lying on my death bed or a traitor that needed to be lying on her death bed. I assumed that Stefan and Damon personally took up the responsibility to tell everyone that I was a backstabbing bitch that needed to be stopped. It wasn't true, but it didn't matter because they'd all still hate me no matter what I said to try and stop them from thinking anything bad. I waited a few seconds to actually move to listen to what they were saying. But they weren't talking. They were all just waiting for me to wake up.

"Hey, guys," I greeted, sitting up in the bed. Elena broke out in a smile with Jeremy while everyone else faked their happy looks. Stefan was the only one who didn't make an effort to even make it look like he was comfortable being here. Though I couldn't blame him. I did just confess my love to the guy that was going to kill my sister and kissed him right after I confessed my love to Stefan. So he had a pretty good reason to be mad at me.

"How are you feeling?" Elena asked, rubbing my leg. I rolled my eyes at her attitude. It was always like Elena to care about someone else before herself. And I was sick of it. I had done so many things to hurt her, some that she didn't even know about, and she still put me above her. I was certain that they cared to share the whole information about Klaus and me, so there was no way I was letting Elena be the sweet and caring person she was because I _was _a liar. And I didn't deserve to be treated like a goddess.

"Elena, I'm sorry. I really am…"

She was quiet for a second. "Is this about the Klaus thing?"

"Yes, it is," I confirmed and she sighed. Everyone else was quiet in the matter because it truly was just between us siblings. No one else had any right to talk about it because I betrayed them, but it was Elena who was betrayed above all. And I felt like a total bitch for it. And Elena was probably going to just shrug it off.

"Courtney," she finally began, "it's okay. We can't control our feelings. I have to admit, I felt really…_sad _when Stefan told me. But I'm happy to see you're okay. And you tried to defend me. You didn't want Klaus to take me. That proves to me enough that you still are on my side." She gave me a supportive smile. And Stefan rolled his eyes. And so did Damon. And Bonnie. They all hated me.

"Elena, I didn't plan on falling for Klaus," I told her. "I just wanted to get some dirt on him. Find shit out about him, and use it against him. I wanted to find out his strengths and his weaknesses. I didn't plan on kissing him or any of that. I promise."

Elena stared at me. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Judging by her expression, she was torn between not believing me and thinking I was telling the truth. I mean, I was telling the half-truth. So that still counted as the truth in some way. But Damon and Stefan? They didn't believe any of it. They thought I was a total liar and that I needed to be put down. I could just tell it by their facial expressions.

"Then why did you mumble along with the spell?" she asked me. It was a valid question. And I almost cried out to God, thanking him, that I knew the answer.

"The dark magic," I answered, "she was mumbling a dark magic spell, and since I was created by it, I just couldn't stop. I didn't want to, believe me. But I couldn't force myself to stop. But it was when Klaus drank from your neck when I suddenly found a way to stop. When you were in danger, I stopped myself. You are the thing that brings me back."

"Sure," Stefan scoffed. _Seriously, we've been through our ups and downs, but you need to just back the fuck off. It's now just getting annoying. I got your anger before, but now I'm just straight fed up with it. Fuck off, Stefan. _Of course I couldn't say what I was thinking to his face because that would automatically make me seem like the bad guy and I couldn't our relationship fail even more than it already did.

"And there's more to tell," I confessed. _No, don't tell them about Katherine._

_I have to, they are my family._

_But if you do, they'll never forgive you._

_I know they won't but I have to. If they find out later, then they'll just be even more angry._

_I hate it when you talk logically._

"What else?" Damon groaned.

"Katherine." All of their heads stared at me intently when they heard her name. And that's when I knew that my life was going to be hell. I had to say my goodbyes now because there was no way Stefan or Damon would let me live after I told them. "Alright, everyone listen up because what I'm about to tell you is going to shock you. You're going to want to strangle, maim, and straight up kill me, but I beg you to wait 'till the end to do what is well deserved."

Elena looked at me with pleading eyes. She didn't want me to say anything bad because she knew that if she heard it, she might not be able to forgive me. Honestly, I wouldn't expect her to.

"Okay, now that I've got your attention: Katherine. I went with her when you guys finally confessed what was up. She killed me and turned me into a vampire. Then she told me her whole life story and I felt bad for her. So I agreed to help her." With those words, everyone's faces changed. I looked down at my hands, trying to avoid everyone's expressions. "I decided that I could help her. I would help her get Elena, deliver Elena to Klaus for Katherine, get Katherine off Klaus's bad side, and then find a witch to resurrect Elena. It all was working out perfectly. I was on my way to helping everyone I loved. And then I turned human. Confuzzled us and then she left. I was off to find answers when Klaus found me. I decided that I'd do a little detective work and get on Klaus's good side. Find out what made him tick. And then I'd try to convince him that Katherine wasn't such a bad person. That didn't work because I fell in love.

"Then I found out that he was still hunting down Elena, and I just left. That's when I came back. Even though I was with Klaus, I still didn't give up Elena's location. I love you too much to do that. So I was done with Klaus, but Katherine and I were still working together. So we did all of our shit, I was working with Katherine and none of you noticed. Since I still had lingering feelings for Klaus, I decided that I'd help all three of you. Help Katherine get off Klaus's bad side; give Klaus what he wants, and then find a way to resurrect Elena and make Klaus leave us alone. It was all working out perfectly until I found out what I was supposed to do on this earth and who my _real _mother was.

"You many think it didn't change anything, but it did. I couldn't deal with it anymore. Sure, I had a plan to make you all happy, but there were some kinks. What if Elena didn't come back alive? What if I couldn't find a way to resurrect her? What if Katherine didn't get off Klaus's bad side? What if he decided to kill her just because she fucked up all those years ago? And then there was the issue of Klaus. Why did he want to be a hybrid so badly? So he could have control. What if he didn't leave us alone? Then that'd be bad. I didn't expect my whole plan to go to shit just because of a few little issues. And then it happened."

I stopped after the whole "And then it happened" thing because I knew that they'd want to strangle me. And I was totally fine with it because I'd just come back alive. It didn't matter if they did because I deserved it.

They were all quiet. They all stared. There was so much tension in the room.

"So all this time, you worked with Katherine?" Stefan concluded. I nodded. "Wow…"

"You planned on helping all of them because…?" Bonnie questioned.

"Because honestly, I think they all deserve it," I answered and Bonnie scoffed.

"Really?"

"Well, if you were just trying to save your life, then Klaus murdered your family, and then you're on the run for him for years wouldn't you be a little messed up?" I questioned, but I asked it softly. Not in the bitchy voice I would have asked it in, if not Elena present. And my soft tone shut Bonnie up anyway.

"You fell in love with Klaus, but then you decided you wouldn't continue on with him because he was still trying to find Elena?" Damon said. I nodded. "Hmm…?"

"Wait, you said 'and then _it _happened'? What does that mean?" Elena was the last one to ask.

I let out a big breath. "You died. My life is tied to yours so I died too. And…"

"What?"

"I've lost my powers. And since you're a vampire, I'm pretty sure I'm going to die still," I finished. Stefan looked lost while Damon looked sad. Bonnie was torn between angry and depressed while both Elena and Jeremy looked like they were going to throw a fit. Then Elena's face lit up.

She claimed, "But I'm not a vampire!"

I was confused. "What?"

She was suddenly sad again. "John," she started, "he gave his life for me. He gave his human soul for mine. So I'm human."

Tears sprung in my eyes as I heard this news. John was dead? Not only did I lose Jenna, my beloved aunt, but I also lost my uncle/father John? Who was beloved too. All for that stupid bitch Elena.

_Kill her, _the voices in my head nagged. _She's killed everyone you love. Kill her._

But there was another voice that said to me, _But she didn't mean to. She's not the person you think she is. She's caring, and thoughtful and she would never intentionally put other's lives on the line. She's too selfless for that. She's not like Katherine. …and she's your sister…_

"I'm still going to die," I told them. Elena shook her head violently. She wiped the tears away as I cried them. "My purpose… I failed it. You were used for a sacrifice anyway, so I'm not going to be alive. I'll die. And you'll live on. I was supposed to kill you, but I never did. I love you too much for that. And since I didn't kill you before the ritual happened, then I failed. I'm going to die."

Elena shook her head as a tear fell from her eyes, and she wrapped her arms around me in a hug. Jeremy repeated her actions. And so did Bonnie. And Damon. And finally Stefan, who was very reluctant at first.

"We'll find another way," Elena kept mumbling. "We'll find another way."

"What if we can't? I'll just die. I'll just be dead."

Elena jerked back from the hug. She stared at me with wide, disappointed eyes. "No, I refuse to talk like that. I refuse to let another family member go. I'm not losing you or Jeremy. You're both going to stay here with me and there's nothing you can do about it. I will find a way to keep you alive."

"Elena, face the facts. I'm not even supposed to be here," I argued, "I'm not supposed to be alive. I was created to kill you. And if you weren't the doppelganger, then I wouldn't be here. You'd have a normal life…_without me. _So in a way, this is right. It's right that I'm going. I hope to fade from your life peacefully."

"You yelled at me for giving up," Elena snapped, starting to get up. "Don't be a hypocrite. I will find a way to keep you alive."

She left the room right after that. And she was right. I couldn't just give up. I had to fight. Even if I wasn't supposed to be there, I was. And there was no way I was going to give up on them. I had to keep Elena and Jeremy company in this world. I had to fix my relationship with Stefan, Damon and Bonnie. But most of all, I had to get revenge on Klaus for fucking up my life. And Elijah, for not putting an end to the bastard who fucked up my life. I was on a mission. And it wasn't to kill Elena. It was to avenge my family.

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><p>The funeral for John and Jenna were just about as fun as my own death. While Elena cried like a baby, I didn't shed any tears. I tried to force myself to, but I couldn't. I couldn't face the fact that I lost my aunt, my uncle, my mother, my other mother and my other father. There was no way that I could take that. The pain was just so unbearable. It made me sick to my stomach. While everyone was shedding tears like <em>normal people, <em>I was over by the trees feeling like I just came off a rollercoaster. A rollercoaster through hell and pain. One that I boarded when I decided I wanted to know about vampires.

After everyone was done, I walked up to John's grave. I took out the note he wrote to me, and started reading it to the grave.

_"__Courtney,_

_I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't be here to help you. I just had to do this. I wish that I could have saved Elena, and still been there with you. We had some fun times together. Some great times that I have always cherished. And I'm sorry that you got caught up in something I wanted to protect you from for so long. Even though you weren't even made to be my real daughter, just made to kill my other one, I'll always love you like a daughter. I hope you'll always love me as an uncle, and hopefully as a father. I need you to take care of Elena and Jeremy. Don't tell them this, but you're the strongest out of your siblings. You know how to keep the humor in the situation and you know how to handle it. And I hope that you always take that strength with you wherever you go. I love you, Courtney. I love you so much._

_John"_

When I finished, I knew I should have been crying by then, but I still wasn't. But I shook that off so I could stop worrying about crying and start talking to my uncle.

"John, for some reason everyone hated you. And I loved you so much. I wish that we found another way to save Elena from vampirism and kept you with us. As many people hated you, I still loved you very much. If only I got to tell you that before you left me. So yes, I will love you as a father, and yes, I will take care of my siblings. I love you, Uncle Johnny." With that, I got up to go to Jenna's grave. But I turned around to add, "Just so you know, I got my strength from you."

I then turned to Jenna's grave.

"It sucked, didn't it? Just finding out about vampires after your family lied to you for so long. Yeah, I know the feeling. I guess you could say that I was kind of hiding it from you also. I was just not saying anything because Elena didn't want me to say anything. Though I didn't understand her logic, I still decided I wasn't going to say. Not only to keep you sane, but to make sure you didn't worry about us too much. So I'm sorry you had to learn last minute that a fucker was after Elena, and you ended up getting killed. If I was still a vampire, I would have offered myself up in replace. So Jenna, I love you. And I wish you didn't have the shitty nieces that you had since we didn't tell you or try hard enough to protect you. I fucking hate myself for letting you get caught up in the drama while all you wanted to do was date Elena's teacher and not worry about the trouble your nieces and nephew might be in. But in the end, we dragged you in. And you got killed. So I am sorry. I am sorry for fucking up your life. If I had three wishes, one of them would you living a happy life, still alive. Away from all the vampire drama. So Jenna, goodbye. And I love you."

Again, there were no tears. But it didn't matter. I kissed my fingers, then put them to the grave to show my love. I hoped that I would see her again, but I wasn't totally sure how the whole ghost seeing thing worked still.

I stood up from the grave, and started walking back to where everyone else was. Stefan and Damon were talking about something; looking at his arm. They were probably talking about his werewolf bite. I decided that I wouldn't disturb them with their conversation. So I followed the group back to the cars to go home.

But I was stopped on the way. He was a vampire, I can tell you that. But I didn't get a good look at him or talk to him because my neck was snapped.

I woke up on a couch, somewhere I didn't know. The bed I was in was comfortable, definitely. But my enjoyment of the bed was ruined when I saw who was in the room.

"Klaus."

"'Ello, love."


	28. Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

**Happy Friday the 13th. So this is the last chapter. I am going to take a short break with this story, and write another one for Supernatural. Guest starring Courtney Gilbert. So I thank you for being here for so long, and sticking with me. Here's the last chapter to The Story of Us.**

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><p>"Klaus, let me the fuck go!" I demanded. Klaus shook his head as he sat down at the counter. "Oh, and did you want some coffee?"<p>

"That'd be great, thank you," Klaus accepted. Instead of pouring him a cup like a normal person, I threw the coffee from the pot at him. It landed all over his face, and made a sizzling noise when it hit his skin.

"Then get your own fucking coffee," I snarled, putting the pot down and walking to the couch. I still wasn't sure where we were, but it wasn't Ric's apartment anymore. Elijah informed me it had been a few days since I got knocked out. He said my phone was ringing like crazy, but he still wouldn't allow me to use it. I begged and begged Elijah for me to just call them to tell them I'm okay, but he still said no.

I sat down on the couch and waited for someone to say something. Klaus slowly got up from the counter and walked over to me.

"Do you think this is funny?" he inquired seriously, pointing to the scalding hot coffee on his skin.

"Yes," I replied, immediately taking a sip after. "I do find it quite amusing."

I could see on Klaus's face that he wanted to yell, but he didn't. He just calmly cussed, and walked away from me. I turned around to see Elijah walk through the door. He watched as Klaus cussed his way to the room he was staying in.

Elijah asked, "What happened while I was away?"

"I threw coffee on him," I answered simply. I took another sip of my coffee.

Elijah smiled at this news. "That wasn't very nice of you."

"If you haven't noticed, I'm not a very nice person."

Klaus walked back out the room with a new shirt and the coffee cleaned from his face. Obviously he used his vampire/werewolf speed, but I really didn't expect it to be that quick. Klaus had a fresh, new smile on his face. I was surprised that he got over it that quickly, but he was probably still excited over the fact he was now a hybrid. Because Elijah couldn't just get the balls to kill his brother. I mean, Klaus killed him at least six times over the years, so killing Klaus for good wasn't anything compared to what he put Elijah through. I interrogated Elijah about it, and he still seemed like he was content with his decision. Even though he did fuck over my friends and family. But that didn't matter; as long as Elijah got what he wanted, all was good in the world.

"Are we ready?" Klaus rubbed his hands together.

I was confused. "Ready for what?"

"To go get Katerina. I'm going to end her miserable life. You should be happy that I'm finally putting her to rest. Though it might be a long, painful death, but a death nonetheless." I stood up and stared at the both of them with wide eyes. Elijah looked like he was annoyed with all of Klaus's shit while Klaus looked ecstatic.

"Killing Katherine?" I questioned outraged. "You think I want to watch that? No."

"Darling, you don't have a choice," Klaus informed me smugly.

"Klaus, why am I even here?"

"You wanted to meet my family. So you're going to."

"I changed my mind about meeting your family the day I learned that your family is just as selfish as you are." I stared at Elijah with a hard look. He cleared his throat and tried to avoid my eyes. He knew that he was in the wrong. He just didn't care.

"Too bad, so sad," Klaus replied. He looked in my eyes, and said, "Now let's go." I guess he still thought that he could compel me. And I guess that I assumed I still had vervain in my system. Sadly, I didn't.

So I put my coffee cup down on the counter and walked out with Klaus and Elijah. I followed them to the car; obviously I was put in the back. They talked to each other occasionally like nothing ever happened between them, and like I wasn't there. Elijah still seemed a little cold, but he was acting way nicer than he was with us. It was almost like they were acting as a _family. _But that couldn't be possible because I knew that Elijah still hated Klaus. Elijah was just using him to find out where is family was.

I touched my raven necklace Damon gave me, which I thought had vervain in it, but it obviously didn't. Then I realized when Damon gave/sent it to me, I was a vampire, so the vervain would have burned me. And I never put any in there since. God, I was so stupid. I should have put some in the necklace just in case one of these situations happened and the vervain was out of my system. I should have had backup.

They drove to a familiar complex where Ric's apartment was.

"Let's go, Courtney," Klaus instructed, sounding chipper. He was just so happy about it, wasn't he?

When we got up to the apartment, Katherine wasn't the only person waiting for us.

"Klaus, you're back."

Klaus just stared at Stefan.

"You just keep popping up, don't you?"

Stefan smiled at Klaus, sarcastically, of course, then turned to me. "What are you doing?"

I was surprised. "You think I want to be here? No, I would never willingly want to be with them."

"What are you wearing?" Katherine asked, looking at me up and down. She had a nasty expression, so I figured she was still mad about the whole Stefan thing. I couldn't blame her, really. I did lie to her too and not tell her about Stefan and me.

"The dress I was in for Jenna and John's funeral wasn't…comfortable. So I got out of it, and Klaus offered me some of his clothes…" I began, "I rejected him, and accepted Elijah's."

"How did you get with them?"

_So many fucking questions, aren't there?_

"Well, Brit boy over here—" I pointed to Elijah, "—kidnapped me. Then I was stuck."

"'Boy'?" Elijah inquired.

"Hey, I see only one man in this room," I argued. "I'll give you a hint: it's not you or your brother."

Elijah shook his head at me. "You are very rude, aren't you? You know what I think of you? I think—"

I interrupted him by saying, "Does it look like I give a shit? No, so stop talking."

I looked back at Klaus, Stefan _and _Katherine who all looked amused at our conversion. I couldn't help it, I was just naturally funny. It was a gift. Klaus turned back to look at Stefan. Stefan took this opportunity to get back on track.

"I need your help…" Stefan announced, "with my brother." I wasn't sure if Klaus was going to help him; sure, Klaus had no reason to help Damon, but Stefan? He seemed pretty cozy with Stefan when he decided not to use Stefan for the ritual. Klaus said something about having other plans for Stefan.

"Whatever it is, it's going to have to wait a tick," Klaus told Stefan. "You see, I have an obligation to my brother that requires immediate attention." I recalled that we were here to kill Katherine, but apparently that wasn't the case. What was Klaus up to?

As Elijah started talking, Klaus went to get something. "You know how important family is, or you wouldn't be here. My brother gave me his word that he would reunite me with my own." That's when I saw it. I saw the dagger that could kill an Original temporarily. Klaus was a sneaky bastard. He would reunite Elijah with his family by daggering him. Bitch. Clever bitch…

"And so I shall." Elijah turned around just in time for Klaus to lodge the dagger in his heart. Elijah shook his head at Klaus, and tried to mumble something, but he couldn't, as he was dying. When Elijah fell to the floor, Klaus took this chance to push Stefan against a wall. "Now, what am I going to do with you?"

Stefan pushed Klaus off of him. I took a seat on the couch because I knew this would be a long talk. A very long talk. There was no point in standing up and waiting for it to be over. Both Stefan and Klaus wanted things very passionately, and they would go through scary shit to get what they wanted. Stefan wasn't going to leave without getting what he wanted and Klaus wasn't going to give anything until he made a good deal. That's when I noticed the similarities in them. Probably why I had a thing for Stefan too.

Out of nowhere, Klaus brought out a stake, and stabbed it in Stefan's chest. I immediately got up to stop him, but Katherine stopped me. I looked at her confused, and she just shook her head. I was still confused, but I sat down on the couch again. Stefan was still alive.

"Do you feel that?" Klaus asked sadistically. "It's scraping against your heart. The slightest little moment, and you're dead." Stefan kept groaning as Klaus kept the stake in his chest.

I got tired of watching Stefan groan, so I spoke up. "Klaus, cut this shit out. He just wants to help his brother."

"The witches said you had a cure," Stefan explained, as clear as he could with a stake up against his heart. "Make me a deal. Just give me the cure, and I'll do whatever you want."

Klaus stared at Stefan for a second, but then he pulled out the stake in his heart. I ran over to Stefan to catch him, just in time before he hit the floor. I let him lean on me, but I wasn't strong enough to keep him up. Klaus pulled out a glass and a blood bag. He poured the bag's contents in the cup as he spoke, "See, the problem is I don't think you'll be any helpful to me. You're just shy of useless."

"It's okay," Stefan told me. I asked him, through expressions, if he was sure, and he replied yes with a nod. I nodded back and sat on the couch. Klaus bent down to Stefan's level on the floor with the cup of blood. I could tell that Klaus was teasing him. Stefan stared at the blood like it was the Holy Grail, or something. All I knew was, Stefan needed blood. And Klaus was holding some.

"There was this vampire I heard about," Klaus began saying. "Crazy bloke, on and off the wagon for decades. When it was off, he was magnificent." Stefan looked like he knew this person. I had a feeling that I was starting to know who he was too. _The Ripper… _But Klaus didn't stop there. He continued, "1917, he went into Monterey and wiped out an entire migrant village. A true ripper… Sound familiar to you?"

Stefan looked down at his hands, ashamed. And I didn't want him to feel this way just because in Klaus's sick mind he decided to bring it up. Stefan wasn't that person anymore. He didn't need to feel the way Klaus was making him feel because of it. What was in the past was exactly that…in the past. Klaus didn't need to be bringing up any old memories. Unless he was really going to go somewhere with the conversation. But I kept my mouth shut because there was no point in ruining any chances for saving Damon.

"I haven't been that way in a very long time," Stefan replied.

"Well, that's the kind of vampire I can make a deal with," Klaus chuckled. "That is the kind of talent I could use when I leave this town." Stefan didn't say anything back. "Katerina, come here," Klaus requested. Katherine gave me a look, and I just shrugged. When she got there, he put his hand out for her to take. Unexpectedly, Klaus bit her.

"No!" Katherine screamed. At first I wasn't getting what he was doing. Then I realized that Klaus was now a werewolf, and werewolf bites kill vampires. "No!"

Klaus then bit himself and shoved his wrist in Katherine's mouth. I got up to see what the fuss was all about. As Katherine was drinking Klaus's blood, I saw the nasty werewolf bite. I guess that was how he was going to kill her. Slowly with a werewolf bite. When Klaus removed his wrist, Katherine's bite started to heal.

_Klaus's blood is the cure. I guess it makes sense because he's both vampire and werewolf. Werewolf bites are lethal to vampires, and since Klaus is both, his blood is the middle man. Sure, Klaus is now indestructible, but at least one good thing comes out of it all: Damon can be saved._

"You want your cure, there it is."

Klaus wiped away the blood as Stefan mumbled, "Your blood is the cure."

"Gotta love mother nature" was Klaus's reply. "Now, let's talk, you and I." Klaus put his hand on Stefan's shoulder. "Courtney, join us."

I immediately patted Katherine on the back and had no choice but to walk over to the counter with Klaus and Stefan. I sat on the counter next to the sink while Klaus sat on a chair and Stefan stood. "Hand me a glass, would you?" Klaus asked me. I nodded, hopped off the counter and found a jar that would close. I handed it to him; Klaus didn't even bother looking at me.

My butt back on the counter, Klaus bit into his wrist again, and started filling up the jar with his blood. When he finished, Klaus smiled. "There you go. Your cure to save your brother. You do know we'll be on a decade long bender. I have big plans for you when we get out of this town."

"I'm not like that anymore," Stefan whispered back.

"That's just a shame." Klaus shook his head. "You would have made one hell of a wingman." Klaus started pouring the blood down the drain. I couldn't say anything because my opinion didn't matter to Klaus, but Stefan's did. I shot Stefan an urging look. He nodded.

Stefan called out, "Wait."

"Now that's more like it." Klaus stopped pouring out the blood and smiled. "I would like you to join me for a drink." Klaus slid over a blood bag to Stefan. A blood bag filled with _human _blood, not Bambi blood. Stefan caught it unwillingly. He looked at me for support. I sent him a supportive smile, but that was all I could do. If I said anything, there was a chance Klaus would compel me to shut up, and then I wouldn't be able to talk for _really important _conversations.

Stefan opened the cap of the blood bag. Klaus lifted up his blood, in a glass, and Stefan did the same. It was like a silent 'cheers.' Stefan took the first sip, and looked like he loved it while another part of him looked like he was angry. Stefan stopped at the one sip and looked back at Klaus.

"Finish it," Klaus demanded. "All of it."

Stefan looked like he was going to throw a chair.

"You do everything I say, and I save your brother. That's the deal."

So Stefan did as Klaus asked. He continued to drink from the blood bag. The younger Salvatore finished the blood bag as quickly as he could while not losing control. When he finished, Stefan slapped the bag down, now without any blood. Klaus smiled at Stefan while tossing him another one. Stefan stared at Klaus with an unbelievable look, and Klaus just shrugged. He shrugged with that smug smile still clearly written on his face.

Stefan angrily ripped off the cap of the bag, and slowly put the bag to his lips. He violently started sucking (dirty minded freaks) the bag. He kept going until the other bag was empty. He threw it down on the counter like the last one and wiped away any blood that strayed from his mouth.

Klaus tossed him another bag.

Stefan finished it.

Another bag.

Stefan finished it.

It was a cycle: Klaus would pass Stefan another blood bag, and commanded, "Again." The Stefan would reluctantly start drinking from the bag. Once he was halfway through, Stefan would just start clenching the bag like he wanted so much more.

It got to the point where Stefan was sucking the blood ON THE FUCKING FLOOR and Klaus just stood there smiling like a crazy person. I shook my head at his sadistic was. He knew that Stefan tried so hard not to drink human blood because he would turn back into the thing he fought most: becoming a Ripper. And Klaus was throwing Stefan's hard work away just because he wanted him to go with him and do gay things together. Klaus was such a bad person, and yet through all the shit I went through because of him, there was still a place in my heart to love him. Sadly… But I had to face it. I was hoping when he left, that was when I could get over him. But of course I would have to find Stefan and get him back. Then I'd get over Klaus.

Stefan finished his, oh, I don't know, hundredth blood bag. He had blood on his chin and on his shirt. Eyes like a mental patient and breathing like he just ran across the world. After the twentieth or so blood bag, Stefan started to get a little sloppier. He left blood in the bags, took another full one, looked like he was literally going to _eat _the bag. I got a bit scared at one point. I got scared that he wouldn't stop. That all his hard work for keeping the Ripper side dormant was all for nothing.

"You are so cooperative," Klaus complimented. He threw Stefan another blood bag like a treat to a dog. "You know, I think you like it. I think you love and miss the taste of human blood. You drink it like its heaven."

"No more," Stefan denied, causing Klaus's cheerful attitude to dull down a bit. "Not until you give me the cure."

Klaus shot back, "Not until we make a deal. It's your choice, Stefan. You can either stay here, living your life in Mystic Falls, or you can embrace who you truly are. You can either stay here or come with me, and save your brother's life." Klaus held up the blood bag, and Stefan's eyes were wide, staring at it. He just couldn't help himself.

"Klaus, seriously? What is this?" I asked referring to Stefan.

Klaus suddenly got up and turned to me. "That reminds me, you're coming with." He said it so casually as he got the vial of his blood. So casually like I shouldn't have been surprised. But I was because I so was not planning on going anywhere with Klaus. I was trying to get over the bastard. It's better when not seeing him to not see him (if you know what I mean). Not not see him and see him (if you know what I mean). It just didn't work that way.

"Um…"

"No questions asked," Klaus demanded. "You're coming with or Damon doesn't get his cure."

He had me there, sadly. I had to do it, for Damon. My best friend was Damon and saving him wasn't a question.

"Fine," I finally agreed, making Klaus smile. "Where are we going?"

"I'll have to get back to you on that," Klaus told me. "Katerina, I need you to take this to Damon Salvatore. Then come right back."

"You want me to leave?" Katherine questioned.

"No," I said. Klaus turned to me. "I'm going with you. I'll come right back, Klaus. I have to go with her."

"And why is that?"

"I need to say goodbye to Damon," I lied. Katherine was on vervain, so she could just run off with the cure and save it for a rainy day. I couldn't let that happen, so I needed to supervise her on her little trip over there. To make sure that she didn't fuck anything up. Damon needed that cure, and we all knew that Katherine and Damon weren't on the best terms.

Klaus looked into my eyes. "Go with Katerina, then come straight back."

"Yes."

Katherine rolled her eyes, and put her hand out for me to take. Suddenly, I was taken by surprise when I felt the wind blow through my hair. I closed my eyes just in case while Katherine took me, hopefully, to the Salvatore boarding house.

When we arrived on the porch, I let out a big sigh. "Thank you, Katherine," I said. She rolled her eyes again. Sure, she was still cold, but I found a way to smile at her. We walked in, found no one, so we walked upstairs. I checked in Katherine's hands just to make sure she didn't purposely drop the cure. That would be some shit if she did. I found Damon's room, and opened it just in time to see Damon and Elena kiss. The smile that was on my face could not even express the happiness I felt for the two.

_I have waited so FUCKING LONG for this moment, and now it's finally here. Damon and Elena kissing on the bed. I wish it could lead to something a little more, but he's lying on his death bed. By the time the cure kicks in, the moment will be over. But at least they've kissed. What a sight, at that. All sweet and cliché. If this was in a movie, I'd watch this scene over and over again. So fucking cute…_

Elena was curled up to Damon's side, and he had his arm around her. Her hands were touching his, and so were their lips. Katherine just had to be the bitch she was and ruin the perfectly amazing moment.

"It's me you should be thanking," Katherine interrupted, wiping the bright smile right off my face. "I'm the one who brought the cure."

Elena turned around to look at Katherine, then the cure, and then me. She smiled, and ran over to me. "Courtney, you're okay!" She threw her arms around me and I awkwardly patted her on the back. It's not that I didn't want to hug her, I was just more interesting in how Damon was doing. Not to sound rude or anything. But Damon happened to be my number one concern at the moment. We could have our sisterly love right before I left, after Damon was alright.

Katherine walked over to Damon, sat on the bed, and started pouring the cure in his mouth. "I thought you were dead," Katherine called over to Elena.

"I was," Elena confirmed. "I thought you were stuck."

Katherine replied, "I got free. Finally."

"And you still came here?" Damon inquired, sounding hoarse.

"I owed you one." Katherine got off the bed, and started walking to the door.

"Where's Stefan?" Elena called out before Katherine left.

"Are you sure you care?" Katherine's eyes flicked over to Damon.

Elena repeated in a harsher tone, "Where's Stefan?"

Katherine smiled. "He's paying for this." She held up the cure. "He gave himself over to Klaus. If I were you, I wouldn't expect to see him anytime soon."

"What do you mean 'gave himself over'?"

"He sacrificed everything. Even you. He's leaving with Klaus."

"Why?"

"That question is what you'll have to ask Klaus himself. But I'm sure you'll be fine. You at least have Damon to keep you company," Katherine teased. "Goodbye, Elena."

Katherine tried to walk out the door, but I asked her to wait. She looked annoyed, but she did it anyway. "Elena, could you give Damon and me a second?" I asked politely. Elena still had a shocked expression from the news Katherine just delivered, but she nodded and walked out with Katherine. I just hoped that Katherine would actually wait for me. Or I'd be stuck driving a car.

Walking over to the bed, I smiled at Damon. He tried to smile back at me. "I told you I'd find a way to save your ass," I taunted, sitting next to him. I put my hand on his cheek lovingly. Ah, I would really miss my bestie while I was gone.

"What are you doing?" Damon asked, shaking his head. "I'm fine. You're fine. We'll find a way to save _your _ass. So what are you doing?"

I finally found a way to get tears to come out. "I'm saying goodbye," I told him. Damon's eyes widened. "Yup, the only way to save you was to go with Klaus and Stefan. So I'm going to be heading off tomorrow. I don't know where but I guess it's not with you. Even though I'm Klaus's bitter ex, I still decided I'd get the cure. Just for you."

"Courtney, you can't go," Damon argued, trying to sit up. Since he was still weak, I easily pushed him back down on the bed. Another tear fell.

"Damon, don't make this harder than it already is," I whispered, lying down on his chest.

"Don't go."

I shook my head. Waiting for a heartbeat, I realized that Damon didn't have one. He was still a vampire. "I'm compelled. The vervain left my system, and Klaus compelled me to go back. I have to."

"Courtney…" he whined. "You shouldn't have."

"I did." We were quiet for a few seconds. That was until I tried to crack a joke. "You and Elena, huh?"

"Don't change the subject," Damon demanded, sounding angry. I finally looked up to see his face and all I found was a scowl.

"Don't make our goodbye a bad one," I pleaded. "I want to have a good memory of this. Damon, you're my best friend and I love you. I'd do anything for you. So stop acting like I made the wrong choice."

"You did! You made the choice to save me in exchange for your freedom. Why would you do that?"

"Besties, remember?"

Damon sighed. He requested, "At least take some vervain so you can be immune?"

"Sure," I smiled. "And take care of my sister for me, will ya?" Damon nodded and I kissed him on his sweaty, gross forehead. But I didn't mind because that was the last time I would see him for a while.

"I'll miss you, Courtney," Damon informed me. "I'll miss my underage drinking buddy."

"And I'll miss my of age drinking buddy." I got up from the bed and slowly walked to the door.

"And Courtney?"

I turned back to face him. "Yeah?"

"Tell Stefan, thank you. And that I… That I…um… I…"

"Tell him that you love him?" I offered with a smile. He nodded. "I will, Damon. I promise."

"Pinky promise?"

"Pinky promise."

* * *

><p>Stefan and I stood in the warehouse together as Klaus said his goodbyes to Elijah, who was now in a coffin. I wasn't expecting him to feel a little remorseful about daggering his brother, but somehow, Klaus found a way to have feelings. Stefan and I stood there respectfully as Klaus said some things to the dead Elijah.<p>

"We're leaving tonight," Klaus declared, making me feel like my heart was ripped out.

"Uh, what about my clothes?"

"We'll buy some new ones on the way." Stefan looked at his phone. "She's on vervain, isn't she?" Stefan looked surprised at Klaus's accusation. "I've been around for a long time, Stefan. I won't get played for a fool."

Even I wasn't expecting him to know that Katherine was on vervain. So he took a chance knowing that she wouldn't bring it to Damon? Asshole. Then he was just going to keep going with the deal and take both Stefan and me? Asshole. Well, if he knew Katherine was on vervain, he must have known that I was too. Until it left my system. Then that was when he knew that he could really control me. "Besides, she won't get far. You'll help me see to that."

Stefan shook his head at the merciless bastard in front of the both of us. "What is it that you want from me?"

"All will be explained in time, once we leave this tragic town," Klaus said. He put his hand on Stefan's shoulder.

"Then are we done? Can we go?"

"Not yet. I have a little gift for you first." And with those words, I knew nothing good could come of this. "Come out, sweetheart." A girl walked out from behind the boxes in the warehouse. She looked like she just shit her pants, but she had no choice but to follow Klaus's compulsion. "Come here." She walked up to them slowly, but surely. "I wanted to make sure that you would honor the agreements of our deal. I want to make sure you'll be of use to me." Klaus took the girl, and bit into her neck. His eyes changed, but they weren't vampire eyes. Well, yeah they were because the fangs came out and so did the veins under them, but the eye color is what changed. He had golden eyes, like a werewolf, instead of having black eyes like other vampires. Maybe awesome eye colors was a part of the whole hybrid deal. Klaus pulled away from the girl after a second of blood drinking. "I could have compelled her to behave, but I know a real Ripper enjoys the hunt."

Klaus threw the girl from her grip and she went running, screaming too. It was kind of annoying and I was ready to Stefan to end her life. She didn't get far, but far enough for me not to want to kill her myself. Stefan suddenly wasn't in front of Klaus anymore, he was in front of the girl. He stared at her for a minute before digging into her neck.

"You're going to fuck him up, you know that, right?" I said to Klaus.

"I know it, and I love it," he replied. My arm was taken, and rapidly we were in front of Stefan and the girl. A moment later, the girl was dead, dropped to the ground my Stefan. I stared into his little vampire eyes, and saw how scared he was.

I tried to comfort him. "Stefan…" I didn't get any farther because Klaus silenced me.

"Now we can go."


	29. Sequel is Up!

The sequel for this book is up and already as a few chapters. I haven't updated in a while, but I'm going to now. Yup, I'm back. Enjoy the sequel and have fun!

katherineismikaelson


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